As some of
you may know there are certain animal species that are commonly considered
vital to human survival. Protecting these species is necessary to avoid food
insecurity or large environmental disasters. One of the species that is often
talked about is the honey bee.
Honey bee
colonies not only make delicious natural honey, but they also help to pollinate
crops. While honey is a great product the pollination powers of a honey bee
colony help a farm be successful. In this past couple of decades, a decrease in
bee populations, both feral and commercial, have been noticed. These deaths
have led farms to be less productive. Under certain conditions bee colonies can
collapse without the necessary workers to sustain a hive.
Research has
been done to find out what has been killing the honey bees and much of it
originally focused on pesticides. Increased use of certain pesticides has been
linked to decreased bee populations, however that is not the whole story. Bee
colonies have also been tested and it has been found that certain viruses have
become prevalent in bee colonies before they begin to die off. One such virus
is the Deformed Wing Virus (DWV). This virus causes malformation and paralysis
in the wings and legs of honey adult honey bees. DWV is an RNA virus that is transmitted
from the Varroa mite to honey bees.
It can then be passed orally by honey bee secretions or from queen and worker
bee sex cells to offspring.
Until
recently working with this virus was difficult but isolating the virus and
synthetically replicating it has been done. The research team that did this
used many processes that may sound familiar to us such as PCR, Western
blotting, and immunohistochemical staining. Having the ability to replicate the
virus in vitro is important to research
groups trying to stop viral transmission among honey bee colonies. Finding
cures and treatments to stop the spread of DWV in conjunction with safe
pesticide use is vital to recovering our honey bee population.
Let me know
what you think about this research in the comments below!
A research paper
about the subject:
Construction and Rescue of a Molecular Clone of Deformed Wing Virus (DWV)
Construction and Rescue of a Molecular Clone of Deformed Wing Virus (DWV)
By: Benjamin
Lamp, Angelika Url et al.
A news
article from Science Daily:
New findings
about the deformed wing virus, a major factor in honey bee colony mortality https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161111120731.htm
I didn't realize just how much honey bees contribute to farms. If the honey bee populations continue to decline, food production will be severely reduced. Subsequently, the economy will take a significant hit. Finding a way to keep Varroa mites from invading honey bee colonies and infecting the whole hive would help preserve the honey bee population. When I was researching the topic further, I found a group of scientists working on this idea. They have designed the "varroa gate". When the bees go through the gate to enter the hive, chemicals protecting the bees from the mites are released and brought into the hive. I found the technique really interesting and creative. If you'd like to read about it, here is the link: http://www.research.bayer.com/en/24-varroa-mite.pdfx
ReplyDeleteThanks Abbie and Ryan for the update. Remember too, that as important as crops are, stable ecosystems also rely on honey bee pollinators.
ReplyDeleteThis is a cool blog. I have always heard that if bees become extinct, then the human race would not be able to survive because bees provided about one third of our food supply. So this is fascinating, and I think everything that needs to be done to keep them alive needs to be done.
ReplyDelete