permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Virus Link to Vanishing Bees
Date: Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:04:42 -0400
From: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Reply-To: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
To: ARS News subscriber <lflj@bellsouth.net>

NEWS RELEASE:
Genetic Survey Finds Association Between CCD and Virus
___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Kim Kaplan, (301) 504-1637, kim.kaplan@ars.usda.gov
September 6, 2007
--View this report online, plus photos and related stories, at 
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
___________________________________________

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6--A team led by scientists from the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service
(ARS), Pennsylvania State University (PSU), and Columbia University (CU) has 
found an association between colony
collapse disorder (CCD) in honey bees and a honey bee virus called Israeli 
acute paralysis virus, according to a paper
published in the journal Science this week.

ARS entomologist Jeffery S. Pettis, research leader of the agency's Bee 
Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md.; Diana L.
Cox-Foster, a professor in the PSU Department of Entomology; and W. Ian 
Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and
Immunity at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, led the 
team that did genetic screening of honey
bees collected from 30 colonies with CCD and 21 colonies with no CCD from 
four locations in the United States.

The genetic screening allowed the researchers to identify pathogens to which 
the sampled honey bees had been exposed. In
total, the honey bees--both CCD and non-CCD honey bees--were found to harbor 
six symbiotic types of bacteria and eight
bacterial groups, 81 fungi from four lineages, and seven viruses.

The search for potential pathogens was done using a new means of sequencing 
the genetic material from the healthy and
unhealthy bees. This technology, termed high-throughput sequencing, allows 
for an unbiased look at DNA from all the
organisms, bacteria, fungi and viruses present in the bees. Then the DNA 
sequences are searched against known genomic
libraries for best matches. This gives a very precise picture of the 
organisms present, at least to the family or genus
level. Often specific species can be identified, and unknown organisms--if 
present--can also be catalogued for further
study. The sequencing work was led by Michael Egholm, vice president of 454 
Life Sciences Corp. of Branford, Conn.,
followed by a large group effort to further identify specific groups of 
microorganisms.

The only pathogen found in almost all samples from honey bee colonies with 
CCD, but not in non-CCD colonies, was the
Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), a dicistrovirus that can be transmitted 
by the varroa mite. It was found in 96.1
percent of the CCD-bee samples.

This is the first report of IAPV in the United States. IAPV was initially 
identified in honey bee colonies in Israel in
2002, where the honey bees exhibited unusual behavior, such as twitching 
wings outside the hive and a loss of worker bee
populations. IAPV has not yet been formally accepted as a separate species; 
it is a close relative of Kashmir bee virus,
which has been previously found in the United States.

"This does not identify IAPV as the cause of CCD," said Pettis. "What we have 
found is strictly a strong correlation of
the appearance of IAPV and CCD together. We have not proven a cause-and-effect 
connection."

Even if IAPV proves to be a cause of CCD, there may also be other 
contributing factors--which researchers are
pursuing--that stress the bee colony and allow the virus to replicate.

The next step is exposing healthy hives to IAPV and seeing if CCD develops.

CCD became a matter of concern in the winter of 2006-2007 when some 
beekeepers began reporting losses of 30 to 90
percent of their hives. While colony losses are not unexpected during winter 
weather, the magnitude of loss suffered by
some beekeepers was highly unusual.

The main symptom is finding no or a low number of adult honey bees present 
with no dead honey bees in the hive. Often
there is still honey in the hive and immature bees (brood) are present.

Pollination is a critical element in agriculture, as honey bees pollinate 
more than 130 crops in the United States and
add $15 billion in crop value annually. There were enough honey bees to 
provide pollination for U.S. agriculture this
year, but beekeepers could face a serious problem next year and beyond if CCD 
becomes more widespread and no treatment
is developed.

More information about CCD can be found at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/ccd/.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.

___________________________________________

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__________________________________________
ARS News Service, Information Staff, Agricultural Research Service
5601 Sunnyside Ave., Room 1-2251, Beltsville MD 20705-5128
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