[SustainableTompkins] Apple-Crop: Bee researchers close in on Colony Collapse Disorder

[Joel and Sarah Gagnon]

Great stuff, Tony. Thanks for sharing.

Joel

At 09:53 PM 10/11/07 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi,
>For those of you following the bee CCD, this report from a CU researcher is
>informative and, as is often the case, when we have enough information and
>the situation is placed in context, it is easier to understand and accept.
>Tony
>
>
> >
> >Contact: Andrea Elyse Messer
> >aem1 at psu.edu
> >814-865-9481
> >Penn State
> >
> >Bee researchers close in on Colony Collapse Disorder
> >
> >Across the nation, beekeepers have seen hive after hive succumb to Colony
> >Collapse Disorder (CCD); a team of entomologists and infectious disease
> >researchers now report a strong correlation between the occupancy of CCD
> >and a virus, Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IVAP).
> >
> >"We have not proven a causal relationship between any infectious agent and
> >CCD," the researchers report in today's (Sept. 6) issue of Science Express
> >online. However, they note that the prevalence of IAPV genetic material in
> >bees suffering from CCD, the timing of the outbreaks and the geographical
> >circumstances "indicate that IAPV is a significant marker for CCD."
> >
> >Many researchers are investigating CCD because domestic honeybees are
> >vital to a variety of agricultural crops in the United States. Beekeepers
> >truck their hives cross country to pollinate almond groves in California,
> >field crops and forages in the Midwest, apples and blueberries in the
> >Northeast and citrus in Florida.
> >
> >Unlike other diseases that have plagued bees in the past, CCD leaves a
> >hive with a few newly hatched adults, a queen and plenty of food.
> >Researchers suspect a pathogen because while bees will not recolonize a
> >CCD hive, once the hive is irradiated and therefore sterile, bees are
> >happy to live there.
> >
> >The disease was recognized in 2006, but beekeepers reported hive declines
> >similar to CCD as early as 2004. An estimated 23 percent of all beekeeping
> >operations in the U.S. suffered from CCD during the winter of 2006-2007.
> >
> >After looking at other methods of identifying the cause of the disease,
> >the researchers decided to sequence the genetic material in bees to try to
> >find a potential pathogen.
> >
> >"The genome of the honey bee had just been completed," said Diana
> >Cox-Foster, professor of entomology, Penn State. "So it was possible to do
> >the sequencing and then eliminate the genetic material of the bees."
> >
> >W. Ian Lipkin, M.D., professor of epidemiology, neurology and pathology at
> >Columbia University and director of the Center for Infection and Immunity
> >at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and his team
> >prepared samples for 454 Life Science -- the company that developed the
> >array-based pyrosequencer -- to sequence cDNA from the RNA of the bees.
> >
> >Researchers analyzed data using a unique set of algorithms generated at
> >Columbia, did a large amount of viral sequence comparison, developed real
> >time PCR assays and cloned the full length IAPV genome, among other things.
> >
> >The samples sequenced included bees from four geographically separated CCD
> >suffering operations, apparently healthy bees imported from Australia,
> >non-diseased samples from Pennsylvania and Hawaii, and samples of royal
> >jelly imported from China. Royal jelly is secreted by bees and used to
> >feed all larvae, but those fed only with royal jelly become queens.
> >
> >"We chose bees from Hawaii because at that time, those populations were
> >free of varoa mites, a problem in all mainland hives," says Cox-Foster.
> >"The royal jelly was not intended for bees, but for human consumption and
> >cosmetics, but some beekeepers use it to create new queens."
> >
> >The researchers grouped material for sequencing as presumed CCD positive,
> >presumed CCD negative and royal jelly. The pooled RNA sequences were
> >analyzed for bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses matches.
> >
> >Lipkin played a key role in the search for new or reemerging pathogens,
> >contributing unique methods. The genetic sequences, minus that of the
> >domestic honeybee, were eventually matched against GenBank, a database of
> >genetic sequences maintained by the U.S. National Center for Biology
> >Information, National Institutes of Health. Ninety-six percent of the
> >genetic material matched that previously found in bees.
> >
> >The bacterial sequences were those normally found in bees worldwide,
> >analyzed by Nancy A. Moran, the Regents' professor of ecology and
> >evolutionary biology, University of Arizona, and colleagues and Jay Evans,
> >research entomologist, Bee Research Laboratory, U.S. Department of
> >Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service and colleagues.
> >
> >"The bacteria found were the same as those found in two previous studies
> >from two different parts of the world at two different times," says
> >Cox-Foster. "They represent mutualistic or symbiotic relationships with
> >the bees, similar to those of humans and the bacteria found in the human
>gut."
> >
> >Protozoans and fungi analyzed by Liwang Cui, associate professor of
> >entomology, and David M. Geiser, associate professor of plant pathology,
> >Penn State respectively, were associated with both CCD and non CCD
> >populations.
> >
> >"We knew before we started that we would find a boatload of viruses in the
> >bees given our preliminary research," says Cox-Foster. "Eighteen different
> >types are known from serology and antibody work in England."
> >
> >Cox-Foster's and Lipkin's groups analyzed the viruses. They found the
> >expected viruses, and they found one that, while identified by researchers
> >at Hebrew University in 2004, has just now appeared in scientific
> >publication. This virus, IAPV, along with Kashmir bee virus (KBV), was
> >found only in CCD populations. In the initial experiments, the researchers
> >report that "IAPV was found in all four affected operations sampled, in
> >two of four royal jelly samples and in the Australian sample. KBV was
> >present in three of four CCD operations, but not in the royal jelly."
> >
> >Other viruses and Nosema parasites had been suggested as the cause of CCD,
> >but the researchers found that those pathogens appear in both CCD and
> >non-CCD samples. Only KBV and IAPV correlated with CCD in the genetic
> >survey. In a recently published study, Jeffery S. Pettis, research leader,
> >Bee Reseach Laboratory, and colleagues reported that Nosema ceranae had
> >been in the U.S. for at least 10 years, along with Nosema apis.
> >
> >Researchers then analyzed samples collected from 30 CCD colonies and 21
> >healthy colonies in the past three years for four pathogens: KBV, IAPV and
> >Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae -- both fungi that infect bees. They found
> >that all samples that had IAPV had KBV, but KBV also occurred in both sick
> >and healthy samples.
> >
> >"IAPV was found to increase the risk of CCD with a trend for increased CCD
> >risk in samples positive for Nosema apis," the researchers said. "Neither
> >KBV nor N. ceranae contributed significantly to the risk for CCD nor did
> >they alter the influence of IAPV on CCD."
> >
> >However, while IAPV may be a marker for CCD, proving that any organism is
> >the cause of CCD is somewhat more difficult. The researchers will now try
> >to infect bee colonies with CCD. Beside general health stress from the
> >heavy load of pathogens normally carried by bees, other suggested
> >contributors to CCD include pesticides, drought and nutritional stress.
> >
> >Timing also may be the key to pinpointing the cause. The United States
> >began allowing importation of bees from Australia in 2004, which coincides
> >with early reports of CCD. The same year, IAPV, described by Israeli
> >researchers with symptoms of shivering wings, progressed paralysis and
> >bees dying outside the hive appeared. While CCD does not seem to have the
> >same symptoms, this may reflect a different strain of the virus,
> >co-infection with another pathogen or the presence of other stressors.
> >
> >The researchers note that "the varroa mite, for example, absent in
> >Australia, immunosuppresses bees, making them more susceptible to
> >infection by other organisms." Beekeepers used mitocides, chemicals used
> >to control varroa, on both CCD and healthy colonies.
> >
> >Edward C. Holmes, professor of biology, Penn State, and Gustavo Palacios,
> >Columbia University, were instrumental in determining the evolutionary
> >relationships of the viruses found in CCD colonies compared to previously
> >known viruses and isolates from Australia.
> >
> >While unquestionably it is important to identify the cause of CCD, this
> >total genetic study of bees and their fellow travelers also may lead to a
> >better understanding of other disease causing agents in the population and
> >to an understanding of the beneficial organisms that reside within the bee.
> >
> >###
> >
> >Other researchers on the Penn State team include Dennis vanEngelsdorp,
> >senior extension associate and State Apiarist for the Pennsylvania
> >Department of Agriculture, and Abby Kalkstein, research technologist.
> >Other researchers at Columbia University include Sean Conlan, Phenix-Lan
> >Quan, Thomas Briese, Mady Hornig, Andrew Drysdale, Jeffrey Hui and Junhui
> >Zhai. Vince Martinson, University of Arizona and Stephen K. Hutchison, Jan
> >Fredrik Simons and Michael Eghom, at 454 Life Sciences, also contributed.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >----------
>
>Brian Caldwell
>Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
>905 Bradfield Hall
>Cornell University
>Ithaca, NY 14853
>bac11 at cornell.edu
>607-255-4747
>Cell: 607-280-3652
>Fax: 607-255-3207
>
>
>
>
>--
>"Fool's gold exists because there is real gold." -Rumi
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