Hayes:
It's kind of interesting that all of the samples we've taken and even all the samples of even healthy colonies all show Nosema ceranae. We can't find another Nosema - Nosema apis. All honey bees we have examined have Nosema ceranae, but only some are from Colony Collapse Disorder hives. And there is a treatment for Nosema ceranae that beekeepers use. So, Nosema ceranae certainly is a stressor, but it doesn't seem to be the smoking gun that we were looking for.
Interviewer:
THE FACT THAT BOTH HEALTHY AND COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER BEES WOULD HAVE NOSEMA FITS AGAIN INTO [Penn State entomology] PROF. [Diana] COX-FOSTER'S HYPOTHESIS THAT THIS WAS A SYMPTOM OF IMMUNE COLLAPSE.
Hayes:
Yes. It seems to be a stronger hypothesis as the days go by that something is affecting the bees' immune system and many of these things we are finding, which are normal pathogens are proliferating because the bees' immune system cannot handle them.
Interviewer:
IT SOUNDS AS IF THE CALIFORNIA [UC-San Francisco] RESEARCHERS HAD NOT STUDIED THE COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER SCIENCE GROUP'S WORK FROM DECEMBER 2006 ONWARD. THEY MADE A LEAP BASED ON A FINDING AS OPPOSED TO PLACING THE FINDING IN THE CONTEXT OF, LET'S SAY, THE IDEA OF SUPPRESSED IMMUNE SYSTEMS MAKING THE BEES GENERALLY VULNERABLE TO MORE PATHOGENS?
Hayes:
Yes. They made a leap. We just need to collaborate more so we can move ahead and see what we can find.
This study demonstrates that natural variation within a food plant species has an effect on the innate immune system of an herbivorous insect.
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