Katherine Beadle, Kumar Saurabh Singh, Bartlomiej J Troczka, Emma Randall, Marion Zaworra, Christoph T Zimmer, Angela Hayward, Rebecca Reid, Laura Kor, Maxie Kohler, Benjamin Buer, David R Nelson, Martin S Williamson, T G Emyr Davies, Linda M Field, Ralf Nauen, and Chris Bass
The impact of pesticides on the health of bee pollinators is determined in part by the capacity of bee detoxification systems to convert these compounds to less toxic forms. For example, recent work has shown that cytochrome P450s of the CYP9Q subfamily are critically important in defining the sensitivity of honey bees and bumblebees to pesticides, including neonicotinoid insecticides. However, it is currently unclear if solitary bees have functional equivalents of these enzymes with potentially serious implications in relation to their capacity to metabolise certain insecticides. To address this question, we sequenced the genome of the red mason bee, Osmia bicornis, the most abundant and economically important solitary bee species in Central Europe. We show that O. bicornis lacks the CYP9Q subfamily of P450s but, despite this, exhibits low acute toxicity to the N-cyanoamidine neonicotinoid thiacloprid. Functional studies revealed that variation in the sensitivity of O. bicornis to N-cyanoamidine and N-nitroguanidine neonicotinoids does not reside in differences in their affinity for the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor or speed of cuticular penetration. Rather, a P450 within the CYP9BU subfamily, with recent shared ancestry to the Apidae CYP9Q subfamily, metabolises thiacloprid in vitro and confers tolerance in vivo. Our data reveal conserved detoxification pathways in model solitary and eusocial bees despite key differences in the evolution of specific pesticide-metabolising enzymes in the two species groups. The discovery that P450 enzymes of solitary bees can act as metabolic defence systems against certain pesticides can be leveraged to avoid negative pesticide impacts on these important pollinators., Author summary Bees have evolved sophisticated metabolic systems to detoxify the natural toxins encountered in their environment. Recent work has shown that specific enzymes (cytochrome P450s) in these biotransformation pathways can be recruited to protect honey bees and bumblebees against certain synthetic insecticides, including some neonicotinoids. However, it is unclear if solitary bees that carry out important pollination services have equivalent enzymes that play a key role in defining their sensitivity to insecticides. In this study we show that the genome of the solitary bee, Osmia bicornis, lacks the subfamily of cytochrome P450 enzymes that break down certain neonicotinoids in eusocial bees. Despite this, O. bicornis exhibits marked tolerance to the neonicotinoid thiacloprid as a result of efficient metabolism by a P450 enzyme from an alternative subfamily. The discovery that O. bicornis has key detoxification enzymes that determine its sensitivity to neonicotinoids can be leveraged to safeguard the health of this important pollinator.