A SERIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE DETECTION OF ACARAPIS WOODI PARASITISM IN HONEY BEES
USING AN ENZYME-LINKED IMMUNOSORBENT ASSAY
David RAGSDALE Basil FURGALA
Department of Entomology, University of
Minnesota Saint-Pauf, Minnesota,55108,
USASUMMARY
Denaturing polyacrylamide gcl electrophoresis (PAGE)
in the presence of sodiumdodecyl
sulfate(SDS)
wasperformed using
a 7-3(1 %gradient
slabgel
to determine ifunique polypeptides
could beidentified in extracts of A. woodi infested tracheae. Antisera were also raised
against
extracts of A.woodi infested tracheae and used as the
primary antibody
in a directenzyme-linked
immunosorbcnt assay(ELISA).
These studies reveal at least 3
unique polypeptidcs
in the A. woodi extracts with molecularweights
estimated at 51,5()0, 28,400 and 18,000 daltons. Based on the
electrophoretic
work there is a great deal ofhomology
between normalhoney
beeproteins
and extracts of A. woodi infested tracheae. The ELISAusing
unabsorbedprimary antibody
could detect as little as 4.4 ngprotein/ml (less
than I miteequivalent)
of the A. woodi extract. The ELISA was also able to detect the presence of A. woodiprotein
insamples
of 4()0 noninfestedhoney
bee tracheae to which, either 1, 2, 3 or 4 A. woodi infested tracheae were added. Crossreactivity
of normalhoney
beeproteins
found in bothhemolymph
and anextract of thoracic muscle and associated fat
body
in the ELISAprevented
detection of A. woodiproteins
in extracts ofprothoracic
discs. Ifspecificity
could beimproved,
the ELISA has sufficientsensitivity
to detect A. woodiproteins
in extracts ofprothoracic
discs. Crossabsorption
ofprimary
antisera did
improve specificity
but did not eliminate crossreactivity
and wasaccompanied by
anunacceptable
loss insensitivity.
INTRODUCTION
The honey bee tracheal mite, Acarapis woodi, is
a recentintroduction
toNorth America (W ILSON and N UNAMAKER , 1982). As of Sept. 30, 1982, the mite had
notbeen detected in the United States (Stt IMA rruxt
etal., 1983) ; but, in 1984 mite infestations
werediscovered, first in Texas (FORE, 1984) and then
Florida (ANONYMOUS, 1985). Relatively little is known about the epidemiology
and pathology of tracheal-mite infestations. There
areconflicting reports
onwhether colonies parasitized with A. woodi produce less honey (W ILSON and N
UNAMAKER
, 1982 ; BAILEY, 1985) and whether the
stressof A. woodi parasi-
tism increases winter mortality (ANONYMOUS, 1968 in W ILSON and N UNAMAKER , 1982 ; BAILEY, 1985). Diagnosis of the presence of A. woodi is
atime
consuming and tedious task involving careful dissection, clearing of tissue in
KOH, followed by microscopic examination (C ONNER , 1984). Rapid diagnosis
is essential for certification of colonies and apiaries
asmite-free. Additionally,
many
statesand provinces
are nowrequiring certification before allowing importation of honey bees from known mite infested
areas.A method
toaccurately and quickly process
asample of honey bees is needed.
Serodiagnosis is commonly used in agriculture
tosupport seed certification programs
to assurethat either
trueseed
orvegetative seed is free from plant pathogens. For example, potatoes
areroutinely screened for the presence of several viruses using
anenzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (G
UGERLI
, 1983). Also
anELISA has recently been developed
todetect
amicrosporidian infection in mosquitos (G REENSTONE , 1983). And
anELISA has
been used in Australia for diagnosing European foulbrood in honey bees (P
INNOCK and F EATHERSTONE , 1984).
A serological
testfor detecting A. woodi would be useful since ELISAs have proven
tobe rapid and extremely sensitive. However, the
mostdifficult problem
to overcomein any serological
testis specificity, i.e., the assay
must not cross reactwith normal host (honey bee) proteins. The objective of this study
was toevaluate the feasibility of detecting A. woodi parasitism with
anELISA.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Sample preparation
Samples
ofprothoracic
tracheal trunks, thoracic muscle tissue with associated fatbody (but
withouttracheal
trunks)
andhcmolymph
were collected fromhoney
bees infested with A. woodi and from acolony
of known mite-free « Starline» honey
bees maintained at theUniversity
of Minnesota. Workerhoney
bees infested with A. woodi wereinitially
obtained from Mexico and later from infested colonies found in Minnesota. Live mite-infestedhoney
bees from Minnesota were maintained in thelaboratory
forseveral
days.
Prothoracic tracheal trunks were dissected and mite-infested tracheae wereplaced
in 0.5 mlof 0.01 M Tris-HCI buffer,
pH
7.2, as a rinse to remove normalhoney
beeproteins. Aliquots
ofapproximately
100 tracheae were held at - 20 &dquo;C.Tracheal
trunks from mite-freehoney
bees wereprepared
and stored as above.Hemolymph
was collected from both live mite-free and mite-infestedhoney
beesby carefully piercing
theintersegmental
membrane on the abdomen with a needle andcollecting
thedroplet
in a 2 ulpipet. Hemolymph
wasimmediately
diluted 2-fold with cold Tris-HCI buffercontaining
0.01 %phenylthiourea
to prevent melanization. Extracts of muscle tissue with its associated fatbody
and mite-infested and mite-free tracheae were triturated in aPotter-Elvehjem
tissuegrinder
with Tris-HCI buffer,centrifuged
and the supernatant collected.Aliquots
of 50 ul werekept
frozen at - 20 °C until needed. Protein
analysis
wasperformed
on thesesamples using
the Bio-Radmicro assay with ovalbumin as a standard. An estimate of the average amount of
protein
in mite-infested and mite-free tracheae was determined.Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
Denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE)
in the presence of sodiumdodecyl
sulfate(SDS)
wasperformed following
the methods of LAEMMLI(1970).
Gradient slabgels
from 7-30 %polyacrylamide,
0.75 mm thick were cast. Proteins were dissociated in the presence of 1 % SDS and 5 %2-mercaptoethanol by heating
thesamples
in a 100 °C water bath for 3 minutes. Ten ug ofprotein
wereused in a
single
slabgel
track. Markerproteins
used were thehigh
and low molecularweight
standardkits MW-SDS-70L and MW-SDS-200
(Sigma
ChemicalCo, Saint-Louis,
Missouri,USA).
The subunit molecularweights
of these standardsranged
from205,000
to14,200
daltons. Theclectrophorectic
conditions were to prerun the
gel
for 1 h at 70 volts, add thesamples
and, after ten minutes at 300volts,
maintain a constant 150 volts for 10 h. Silverstaining
wasperformed according
to Mexett, et al.(1981).
Relative
mobility
of theprotein
standards wasplotted
versuslog
of their molecularweight.
The standardcurve was used to estimate molecular
weights
of themajor polypeptide
bands in eachsample.
Theelectrophoretic
characterization of the A. woodi extracts is necessary in order toidentify
and confirm the presence ofmite-specific proteins
in these extracts.Serological procedures
Mice were immunized with the
electrophoretically
characterized extract of A. woodiparasitized
tracheae. The first
injection
was emulsified 1:1 with Freund’scomplete adjuvant
and 20 ug weregiven intrasmuscularly (im).
Mice were boosted im after 8 weeks with 25 ug emulsified inincomplete
Freund’sadjuvant.
Animals were test bled 2 to 4 weeks after the lastinjection.
Antiscra were diluted 1:10 with PBS,containing
10 % bovine serum albumin(BSA)
as a cryoprotectant, and stored at - 20 °C until needed.An indirect ELISA was
developed using
the horseradishperoxidase/o-phenylenediamine
system in microtiterplates following
the method of VOLLERet al.(1976).
The secondantibody
was goat anti-mouseIgG conjugated
with horseradishperoxidase (IgG-HRPO) (Sigma
ChemicalCo.).
To determineoptimum
reagent concentrations, checkerboard titrations were set upusing
all combinations of10,
7.5,5.0,
2.5 and1.0 ug/ml
A. woodiantigen,
a1:100, 1:200, 1:400,
1:1 000 and 1:1 500 dilution of the anti-A. woodi antisera and 1:1 000 dilution of the secondantibody.
All assays wereperformed
in 96-well microtiterplates (Dynatech,
ImmulonII) using
100 ul volumes.Sensitivity
andspecificity
of the ELISA were determinedby coating
thepolystyrene
microtiterplates
with 2-fold dilutions of the A. woodi extract,
honey
bee thoracic muscle and associated fatbody
extractor
hemolymph
in 0.06 M carbonatebuffer, pH 9.6,
andincubating
theplate
for 2 h at 37 °C. Each dilution wasreplicated
4 to 6 times. Control wells contained bufferonly during coating
and normalmouse serum in
place
of antiseraagainst
A. woodi.Absorption
of each well was read with aDynatech
MR 590
spectrophotometer
at 490 nm. Linearregression
wasperformed
for eachantigen
titration.Sensitivity
of each ELISA was determinatedby taking
the 95 % upper confidence interval of the Y-intercept
andsolving
for X in theregression equation.
Field
testing
of the ELISA wasperformed
in 2 ways.First,
to 400 noninfestedhoney
bee tracheae either0,
1, 2, 3 or 4 A. woodi infested tracheae were added. The tracheae were triturated in 250 ul of carbonate(coating) buffer, centrifuged
andduplicate
100 ulsamples
ofsupernatant
were used as thecoating antigen
and incubated as above.Second,
20prothoracic
discs(10
known to be mite-infested and 10 withoutmites)
wereindividually
triturated in 250 ul ofcoating
buffer.Following centrifugation
thesupernatant was used as the
coating antigen
and 4 2-fold dilutions of 100 ul each were used. Theprothoracic
discs represent what would be used in a field test.Cross
absorption
of 100 ul of antisera raisedagainst
A. woodi infested tracheae wasaccomplished by adding
2 mg of both the extract of thoracic muscle with associated fatbody
andhemolymph
from mite-free
honey
bees. The mixture was incubated for 2 h at 37 °C followedby overnight
at 4 °C. The crossabsorbed antisera was
centrifuged
at12 000 xg
for10 min,
thesupernatant
diluted to 1:1 000 with TT buffercontaining
1 % BSA and evaluated in the ELISA forspecificity
andsensitivity
as described above.RESULTS
Protein determinations of the
extractsof infested tracheae averaged
497.9 ± 145.5 ng protein per trachea while
extractsof mite-free trachea
avera-ged only 39.4 ± 14.5 ng protein per trachea. The number of mites in all stages and eggs combined per infested trachea averaged 34.6 (range 31-39) ; thus,
asingle life stage would contain
onaverage 14.4 ng protein. The percent
parasitism of the honey bees collected in Minnesota
wasnearly 40 %, while the honey bees from Mexico
wereparasitized only about 20 % of the time.
The PAGE-SDS (Fig. 1) shows
atleast 3 polypeptides which
areunique
to extracts
of mite-infested tracheae. Many bands in the A. woodi
extracthad relative mobilities similar
tobands in hemolymph and thoracic muscle
extractsand may be identical proteins. The 3 polypeptides unique
tothe A. woodi
extract
had molecular weights estimated
at51,500, 28,400 and 18,000 daltons.
Only
afew PAGE-SDS gels included
an extractof mite-free trachea because of the small
amountof protein associated with the mite-free trachea. These 3
polypeptides unique
toA. woodi infested trachea
were notfound in
extractsof mite-free trachea.
Optimum concentrations of
reactantsin the ELISA
weredetermined
asthe minimal
amountof antigen and primary antibody (anti-A. woodi) which
gave
anabsorption of 1.00
orgreater after 30 min. of substrate incubation. A 1:1 500 dilution of
mouseanti-A. woodi antisera gave
anaverage absorption of
1.107 when plates
werecoated with 1.0 ug/ml of A. woodi
extractand the
second antibody (goat anti-mouse IgG-HRPO)
wasused
at a1:1 000 dilution
(1 VL g/mi). Data from the titration of A. woodi extract,
extractsof thoracic muscle with associated fat body, and hemolymph with antisera raised against
A. woodi
areshown in figs. 2 and 3, respectively. The equation
y
=0.072
+0.0075
xexplains 97.2 % of the variation in fig. 2. The equations
y
=0.020
+0.000069
xand y
=0.049
+0.000127
xexplain 97.0 and 94.4 % of the variation in the titration of the
extractof thoracic muscle with associa- taed fat body, and hemolymph, respectively (Fig. 3). The least
amountof
protein detected in ELISA for the
extractsof A. woodi infested tracheae, thoracic muscle with associated fat body, and hemolymph
was4.4, 266 and
363 ng/ml, respectively. Thus the ELISA is capable of detecting
asingle mite.
The ELISA
wascapable of detecting the presence of
asingle mite-infested trachea when mixed with 400 uninfested tracheae (Tabl. 1). However, there
was a
high background absorbence in control wells containing
an extractof 400
uninfested tracheae due
tothe presence of
crossreacting normal bee proteins.
When
anentire prothoracic disc
wastriturated and used
asthe antigen, the
ELISA could
notdistinguish between
anmite-infested
ornon-infested tracheae because of the
extentof this
crossreaction.
Cross absorbing the primary antisera changed the sensitivity of the ELISA
so
that the least amount of protein detected in the ELISA
was109, 19,574 and 46,398 ng/ml of
extractsof A. woodi infested tracheae,
extractsof thoracic muscle with associated fat body, and hemolymph, respectively. Specificity
wasincreased by
afactor of 2.9 for thoracic muscle and fat body ([19,574/109]/
[266/4.4]) and by
afactor of 5.2 for hemolymph ([46,398/109]/[363/4.4]) but
there
wasnearly
a25 fold loss in sensitivity for detecting A. woodi
extracts.DISCUSSION
PAGE-SDS demonstrated there
wereindeed unique proteins present in
extracts
of A. woodi infested tracheae. The majority of the polypeptides in this
extract
had relative mobilities identical
toeither hemolymph,
extractsof
thoracic muscle with associated fat body
or extractsof uninfested tracheae from nonparasitized honey bees (the latter is
notshown in fig. 1). Over 90 %
of the protein in
amite-infested trachea
wasdue
tothe presence of A. woodi ; however,
someof this protein may be normal honey bee proteins entering the
tracheae through mite feeding sites. Also it has been shown that the external
parasitic mite, Varroa jacobsoni, which feeds
onhemolymph, has
aunique ability
toresorb ingested hemolymph into its
ownhemolymph and eggs
(T
EWARSON and E NGELS , 1982 ; T EWARSON and J ANY , 1982). Because only 3 unique proteins
werefound in
extractsof A. woodi infested tracheae A. woodi may also incorporate normal host proteins into its body without structural
(antigenic) changes. However, the major hemolymph bands
wereconsistently
absent
orpresent only
atlow levels in the
extractsof mite-infested trachea
(Fig. 1). Nevertheless, since unique proteins have been consistently found in
these extracts, it
waspossible
toproduce antisera against them.
The ELISA
wassensitive enough
todetect
asingle mite-infested trachea mixed with
apool of 400 nonparasitized tracheae. However, the protein
concentration of the supernatant from triturating prothoracic discs averaged
25.8 mg/ml, and proteins found in
extractsof thoracic muscle and associated fat body
crossreact with the antisera when present
atconcentrations
>266 ng/
ml for unabsorbed antisera
or19,574 ng/ml after
crossabsorption. Thus assaying these extracts for the presence of mite proteins with the polyclonal
antisera
was notpossible. Dilution of prothoracic disc
extracts sothat protein
concentration would be lower than the detection endpoint for thoracic muscle would dilute the A. woodi proteins far below its lowest detectable level
(4.4 ng/ml prior
to crossabsorption
or109 ng/ml after
crossabsorption).
Improvement of the specificity of the ELISA is necessary before the assay would be useful. Specificity
was notenhanced sufficiently by
crossabsorbing
antisera with
extractsof thoracic muscle with associated fat body and hemo- lymph. Cross absorption left antisera with poor avidity. Another way specifi- city could be improved is
to usemonoclonal rather than polyclonal antisera in the ELISA. Monoclonal antibodies have the resolving power of the vertebrate immune system and specificity would be absolute, i.e., only A. woodi proteins
would be detected. The ELISA assays developed and reported here could
serve as a
3-part screening system for the production of monoclonal antibodies.
Once complete specificity is obtained, the ELISA has been shown
tobe sensitive enough
todetect the presence of A. woodi in
an extractof
asingle
infested trachea.
Rec!y!
/or pu!/tCHnon
:n!4pn7
79!6.Received for publicution in April 1986.
Accepted for publication
inAugust
1986.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank Mr. Steven DUFF and Ms.
Sally
MICHAL for technicalhelp.
Thanks are also due Drs. H.S
HIMANUKI
(USDA/ARS,
Beltsville,Maryland, USA),
F. A. Eischen(Department
ofEntomology, University
ofGeorgia, Athens, Georgia, USA),
and Mr. Phil L!Mn(USDA/APHIS, Hyatteville, Maryland, USA)
forarranging
theshipment
of infested Mexicanhoney
bees. This article is paper number 14,910 of the MinnesotaaAgric. Exp.
Stn.RÉSUMÉ
ÉTUDE SÉROLOGIQUE
DE LADÉTECTION
DU PARASITISME DE L’ABEILLE PAR ACARAPIS WOODIÀ
L’AIDE DE LA TECHNIQUE ELISAUne
électrophorèse
surgel
depolyacrylamide
dénaturant(PAGE),
enprésence
de sulfatedodécyle
de sodium
(SDS)
a été effectuée en utilisant ungel
enplaque (gradient
de 7 à30 %),
pour essayer d’identifier despolypeptides spécifiques
dans les extraits de trachéesparasitées
par A. woodi. Deplus
cesimmunsérums ont été testés avec des extraits de trachées
parasitées
et utilisés commeanticorps primaires
dans un test
immunocnzymatique (ELISA).
Ces recherches ont montré la
présence
de 3polypeptides spécifiques
depoids
moléculaire 51 500, 28 400 et 18 000 daltons. Les recherches parélectrophorèse
montrentqu’il
existe une trèsgrande homologie
entre lesprotéines
normales de l’abeille et les extraits des trachéesparasitées
par A. woodi.La
plus petite quantité
deprotéines
détectée en ELISA en utilisant des immunsérumsprimaires
nonabsorbés est de 4,4 ng de
protéines/ml (moins
d’unéquivalent acarien).
Le test a pu détecter laprésence
d’une seule trachée
parasitée parmi
400 autres trachées nonparasitées (Tabl. 1).
Desabsorptions
croiséesdes immunsérums
primaires
avec les extraits de musclesthoraciques
et de corps gras associé d’une part etavec
l’hémolymphe
d’autre part modifient lasensibilité
du test ELISA : laplus petite quantité
deprotéine
détectée est de 109ng/ml
dans les extraits de trachéesparasitées,
de 19 574 dans les extraits de musclesthoraciques
et de corps gras associé et de 46 398 dansl’hémolymphe.
Si l’onpouvait
améliorer laspécificité,
le test ELISA serait suffisamment sensible pour identifier lesprotéines
d’A. woodi dans les extraits dedisques prothoraciques.
Lesabsorptions
croisées des immunsérumsprimaires
améliorent bien laspécificité
mais n’éliminent pas la réactivité croisée ets’accompagnent
donc d’une perte de sensibiliténon
acceptable.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
SEROLOGISCHE VERSUCHE ZUR
AUFKLÄRUNG
DES ACARAPIS WOODI PARASITISMUS BEI DER HONIGBIENE MIT HILFE EINES ELISA-TESTSEine denaturierende
Polyacrylamid-Gel-Elektrophorese (PAGE)
mitNatriumdodezylsulfat (SDS)
wurde mit Hilfe einer
Gelplatte (Gradient :
7-30%) durchgeführt,
umfestzustellen,
obspezifische Polypeptide
aus Extrakten von mit A. woodi infizierten Tracheen identifiziert werden können. Außerdem wurden Antisera gegen Extrakte von A. wnodi-infizierten Tracheengezüchtet
und alsPrimär-Antikörpcr
bei einem direkten
enzymgebundenen
ImmunosorbentAssay (ELISA)
verwendet.Diese
Untersuchungen ergaben
3spezifische Polypeptide
mitMolekulargewichten
von 51500,
28 400 und 18 000 Dalton in den A. woodi-Extrakten.Aufgrund
derelektrophoretischen Untersuchungen
wurdeklar,
daß sehr vielHomologie
zwischen den normalen Proteinen derHonigbiene
und Extrakten der mit A. woodi infizierten Tracheen besteht. Der ELISA-Test konnte beiVerwendung
von unabsorbiertenPrimärantikörpern
nicht mehr als 4.4 ng Protein/ml(weniger
als 1Milbenäquivalent)
aus den A. woodi-Extrakten isolieren. Der ELISA-Test war außerdem in der
Lage
A. woodi-Proteine inStichprobcn
aus400 nichtinfizierten Tracheen der
Honigbiene
zuidentifizieren,
wenn1,
2, 3 oder 4 infizierte Tracheenbeigemengt
wurden(Tabl. 1).
Kreuzreaktivität von normalen Proteinen derHonigbiene
zum einen in derHämolymphe
und zum anderen in Extrakten der Thoraxmuskulatur sowie des assoziiertenFettkörpers
verhindern beim ELISA-Test die
Identifizierung
der A. woodi-Proteine in Extrakten von Prothoraxschei- ben. Wenn dieSpezifität
verbessert werdenkönnte,
so sollte der ELISA-Testgenügend
sensitivsein,
um A. woodi-Proteine in Extrakten von Prothoraxscheiben zu identifizieren.Kreuzabsorptionen
von Primär-antisera verbessern die
Spezifität
aber eliminieren nicht die Kreuzreaktivität und wurden daher von nichtakzeptablem
Verlust an Sensitivitätbegleitet.
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REENSTONE
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