Beepath: an ordered quantitative-PCR array for exploring honey bee immunity and disease.

Honey bees and other insects face many important parasites and pathogens against which they have evolved behavioral, morphological, physiological, and immune-based defenses. To help validate honey bee immune-gene candidates and determine their responsiveness to pathogens, a quantitative-PCR array was developed to measure transcript levels for 48 honey bee and pathogen genes in parallel. It is shown that this array can accurately measure host and pathogen transcript abundance, providing a new tool for assessing the environmental and genetic components behind honey bee immunity. By using common platforms and chemistries (e.g., SYBR-Green intercalating dye), quantitative-PCR arrays such as the one described should have diverse uses in invertebrate pathology.