The candidates for cold climate genes were reportedly evaluated from three areas: the uncoupling proteins, maternally-transmitted mitochondrial genes, and mitochondrial biogenesis. Given this, it is highly suggestive that in our own data mitochondrial proteins emerge as being differentially regulated in honey selleckchem bee populations originated in the colder Canadian climates as compared to populations from warmer climates. These findings suggest that honey bees have similar adaptive mechanisms to humans and therefore confirm the utility of using honey bees as models of human metabolic diseases, as well as to understand the epidemiology of these diseases. In conclusion, we have provided evidence for the molecular basis of honey bee adaptations to diverse environments.

Overall, energy-related mitochondrial pathways were up-regulated in bees adapted to colder climates while protein biosynthesis and degradation pathways were preferentially up-regulated in honey bees from warmer climates. The observations reported here increase our understanding of metabolic diversity in honey bee populations and lay a framework for biomarker use in selective breeding. Results may also be extrapolated to other species, confirming the need to consider the relationship of animal populations and their native biome in commercial agriculture and in natural environments. Furthermore, our findings underscore the value of honey bees as models of human diseases. Mass spectrometry- based proteomics has rarely been applied to ecology and population biology [17] but this study demonstrates that exploiting proteomics towards these goals can provide great insight into ecological issues and adaptive processes in nature.

Materials and Methods Reagents All chemicals used were of analytical grade or better and all solvents were of HPLC-grade or better; all were obtained from ThermoFisher-Scientific (St. Waltham, MA, USA). Other reagents used were purchased from the following commercial sources: Endopeptidase Lys-C, Wako Chemicals (Osaka, Japan); porcine modified trypsin, Promega (Nepean, Ontario, Canada); loose ReproSil-Pur 120 C18-AQ 3 ��m, Dr Maisch (Ammerbuch-Entringen, Germany); 96-well full skirt PCR plates, Axygen (Union City, CA, USA); fused silica capillary tubing, Polymicro (Phoenix, AZ, USA); protease inhibitor mixture, Roche Applied Science (Basel, Switzerland); NuPAGE Novex BisTris Gels, Invitrogen (Carlsbad, CA, USA).

Honey bee populations and sample collection Eight populations (Table 1) of bees were used in this study and all bees were imported AV-951 to and maintained at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Beaverlodge Research Farm, Beaverlodge, AB, Canada (55��18�� N; 119��17�� W) for one to two years. Multiple colonies (4�C10) from each population were sampled in triplicate and five bee midguts were pooled for each sample. Midguts were dissected from the abdomens of freshly decapitated bees by using forceps to grasp the terminal abdominal segments and pulling gently.