Effect of Varroa jacobsoni parasitization in the glycoprotein expression on Apis mellifera spermatozoa

Abstract - In this article we describe, at both light and electron-microscopic levels, the distinctive distribution of binding sites to biotinylated BPA, Con A and PNA lectins in the male gametes of Apis mellifera. BPA was reactive with the plasma membrane of the entire head, Con A with the acrosomal and postacrosomal region, and PNA with the acrosomal cap. Comparison of the lectin-binding patterns to the spermatozoa of non-parasitized drones and to those cells of drones parasitized with Varroa jacobsoni showed similar staining patterns in both cases. However, the number of labelled cells was lower in parasitized than in non-parasitized drones, suggesting that V jacobsoni may alter the expression of glycoproteins on the spermatozoa.