Issue |
Apidologie
Volume 34, Number 1, January-February 2003
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Page(s) | 43 - 51 | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/apido:2002043 |
DOI: 10.1051/apido:2002043
A substance in honey bee larvae inhibits the growth of Paenibacillus larvae larvae
Manuela Wedenig, Ulrike Riessberger-Gallé and Karl CrailsheimInstitut für Zoologie an der Karl-Franzens Universität Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010 Graz, Austria
(Received 3 August 2001; revised 1 May 2002; accepted 14 June 2002)
Abstract
Paenibacillus larvae larvae, a Gram-positive and spore-forming bacterium,
is the cause of American foulbrood. We investigated the resistance of larvae
of different ages from different colonies against P. larvae larvae.
We prepared ethanol-water-extracts from two, three, four and five day
old larvae and also larvae in two capped stages to test the ability of the
homogenates to inhibit the growth of P. larvae larvae in vitro. There were
age and colony dependent differences in the inhibiting potentials of larvae.
The results suggest that the concentration of the inhibiting substance(s)
in the extract might be responsible for the known different degree of
resistance against P. larvae larvae in vivo. Our results further show
that the extracts of the two-, three- and four-day-old larvae have the ability
to inhibit the growth of P. larvae larvae very well, while starting around
day five the inhibiting effect is gradually reduced.
Key words: Apis mellifera carnica / Paenibacillus larvae larvae / honeybee larvae / age-related resistance
Correspondence and reprints: Karl Crailsheim
e-mail: rwrust@unr.edu
© INRA, EDP Sciences, DIB, AGIB 2003