Honey bee sHSP are responsive to diverse proteostatic stresses and potentially promising biomarkers of honey bee stress.

The pollination services provided by the honey bee are critical in both natural and agricultural ecosystems. Honey bee colonies in the United States have suffered from an increased rate of die-off in recent years, stemming from a complex set of interacting stresses that remain poorly described. Defining specific common cellular processes and cellular stress responses impacted by multiple stressors represent a key step in understanding these synergies.

Halofuginone triggers a transcriptional program centered on ribosome biogenesis and function in honey bees.

We previously found that pharmacological inhibition of prolyl-tRNA synthetase by halofuginone has potent activity against Nosema ceranae, an important pathogen of honey bees. However, we also observed that prolyl-tRNA synthetase inhibition is toxic to bees, suggesting further work is necessary to make this a feasible therapeutic strategy. As expected, we found that pharmacological inhibition of prolyl-tRNA synthetase activity resulted in robust induction of select canonical ATF4 target genes in honey bees.