Glyphosate exposure induces transcriptomic changes in the head of Africanized Apis mellifera honey bees

The transcriptomic profiles of the heads of glyphosate-fed Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera) were assessed to determine which genes are affected by the toxicity of the herbicide glyphosate. For this, 180 marked 21-day-old bees were collected from their respective hives, fasted for three hours, and then provided with food containing a lethal dose (273.93 µg/bee), a sublethal dose (2.73 µg/bee), or no glyphosate. After one and four hours of feeding, 12 bees were collected from each treatment group for transcriptomic analysis. The results showed that one hour of exposure to lethal and sublethal doses of glyphosate altered the expression of genes mainly involved in nervous system function. Four hours of exposure resulted in additional changes in the expression of genes related to the immune system. In conclusion, glyphosate, even at sublethal doses, alters the expression of genes associated with the nervous and immune systems of forager bees.