Fig. 6: Metabolomic profiling of protonymphs (Pro), deutonymphs (Deu), foundresses (Fou), and dispersing V. destructor mites (Dis) corroborate differences in food source between foundresses and dispersers.
From: Life-history stage determines the diet of ectoparasitic mites on their honey bee hosts
a The PCA plot based on the complete metabolomics dataset displays a clear separation of all four life history stages with six replicates of each stage tightly clustered (indicated by different colors according to legend; QC = quality control). b Heatmap and clustering of metabolites that differed significantly in at least one of the pairwise comparisons. The adult foundress cluster is grouped with both nymphal stages (all raised on purple-eyed honey bee pupae) instead of the adult dispersal stage (sampled from adult nurse bees), indicating metabolic similarity according to diet instead of age. c Volcano plot to illustrate the 29.5% of all quantified metabolites that are more abundant in foundresses (green) and dispersing (purple) mites compared to the other life-history stage. Variable influence on projection (VIP) values were derived from orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis. Statistical analyses were performed by two-sided t-tests. d Heatmap and classification of the metabolites that differ between foundresses and dispersing mites show a complex pattern with all metabolite classes containing some more and some less abundant metabolites in foundresses versus dispersing mites. e The KEGG pathways enrichment of upregulated metabolites in foundresses and dispersing mites indicates overall more protein-related metabolism and more fat-related metabolism respectively (two-sided hypergeometric tests). Source data are provided in the Source Data file.
