Identification and measurement of veterinary drug residues in beehive products

There is an increasing concern about the negative impacts of veterinary drugs in beehive compartments. This study evaluates the presence and distribution of chemical residues in beeswax, bee bread and honey and determinates in what extension honeybees are exposed to them. Samples were analyzed by LC-MS/MS and GC–MS/MS with a wide scope of 322 chemical residues. Samples were collected from apiaries located in rural and forest areas, showing no difference in contamination of phytosanitary applications. Residues of acaricides used for sanitary treatments, coumaphos and two transformation products of amitraz (DMF and DMPF), were quantified at higher levels in wax and bee bread than in honey in most cases. Coumaphos, DMF and DMPF were detected in honey in the range 6–36 µg.kg−1; 45–541 µg.kg−1; 15–107 µg.kg−1, respectively. All, except one sample, were below the EU MRLs, 396/2005 Regulation. Other pesticide residues were detected in beeswax and bee bread at various levels

Non-target evaluation of contaminants in honey bees and pollen samples by gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry

This work presents a non-targeted screening approach for the detection and quantitation of contaminants in bees and pollen, collected from the same hive, by GC-EI-ToF-MS. It consists of a spectral library datasets search using a compound database followed by a manual investigation and analytical standard confirmation together with semi-quantitation purposes. Over 20% of the compounds found automatically by the library search could not be confirmed manually. This number of false positive detections was mainly a consequence of an inadequate ion ratio criterion (±30%), not considered in the automatic searching procedure. Eight compounds were detected in bees and pollen. They include insecticides/acaricides (chlorpyrifos, coumaphos, fluvalinate-tau, chlorfenvinphos, pyridaben, and propyl cresol) at a concentration range of 1–1207 μg kg−1, herbicides (oxyfluorfen) at a concentration range of 212–1773 μg kg−1 and a growth regulator hormone (methoprene). Some compounds were detected only in pollen; such as herbicides (clomazone), insecticides/acaricides and fungicides used to control Varroa mites as benzylbenzoate, bufencarb, allethrin, permethrin, eugenol and cyprodinil. Additional compounds were detected only in bees flamprop-methyl, 2-methylphenol (2–49 μg kg−1) and naphthalene (1–23 μg kg−1). The proposed method presents important advantages as it can avoid the use of an unachievable number of analytical standards considered target compounds “a priori” but not present in the analyzed samples. © 2017 Elsevier Lt

ZAPS is a potent stimulator of signaling mediated by the RNA helicase RIG-I during antiviral responses

The poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs) participate in various processes. Here, we report that the PARP-13/ZAP shorter isoform (hereafter called ZAPS), rather than the full length protein, is selectively induced by 3pRNA, and functions as a potent stimulator of retinoic acid-inducible gene-I (RIG-I)-mediated interferon (IFN) responses in human cells. ZAPS associates with RIG-I to promote the oligomerization and ATPase activity of RIG-I, leading to robust activation of IRF3 and NF-κB pathways. Disruption of the PARP-13/ZAP gene, ZC3HAV1, severely abrogated the induction of IFN-α, IFN-β and other cytokines upon viral infection. These results indicate that ZAPS is a key regulator of RIG-I signaling during the innate antiviral immune response, suggesting its possible use as a therapeutic target for viral control