5 ms·

Engineered symbionts activate honey bee immunity and limit pathogens

60 points by ghostoftiber 7y ago

jacobwilliamroy 7y ago
USE LESS PESTICIDES AND THE BEES WILL COME BACK FFS
- tehjoker 7y ago
  Details here: https://theintercept.com/2020/01/18/bees-insecticides-pesticides-neonicotinoids-bayer-monsanto-syngenta/ https://theintercept.com/2020/01/18/bees-insecticides-pestic...
Covzire 7y ago
From listening to talks by Paul Stamets, it sounds like there might be a correlation between colony collapse disorder and lack of fungi / destruction of the old growth forest in a given area, a place where sensitive fungi can grow and thrive. Bees feed on mycellium/fungi, the fungi suppresses other bacteria, at least as far as I understand it. I wonder how much that's been tested by actual beekeepers.
- ghostoftiber 7y ago
  Post a link?
  - filoeleven 7y ago
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32194-8 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32194-8 From the abstract: “Extracts from amadou (Fomes) and reishi (Ganoderma) fungi reduced the levels of honey bee deformed wing virus (DWV) and Lake Sinai virus (LSV) in a dose-dependent manner. In field trials, colonies fed Ganoderma resinaceum extract exhibited a 79-fold reduction in DWV and a 45,000-fold reduction in LSV compared to control colonies.” Stamets has tons of talks on YouTube, a lot of them have the same content in them and anything after 2016 might have the bee story in it. Looks like he plans to start selling these feeders this year, which is good news! https://fungi.com/pages/bees https://fungi.com/pages/bees
- filoeleven 7y ago
  Stamets has been doing tests with beekeepers, having them give some of their hives sugar water with 1% (maybe lower) mycelium extract, which he says contains antiviral and antimicrobial properties. I think he’s testing extracts from a number of species too. Anyway, he says the results are great—IIRC none of the hives given extract collapsed. That said, I haven’t heard anything about him bringing this to market, which is frustrating. I’d rather rely on strengthening an eons-old symbiosis than a newly-engineered bacteria. EDIT: see my other comment, this should be selling later this year,
jacobwilliamroy 7y ago
Is this gene drives? Do inoculated bees behave differently or make a different honey? Does it only affect one species of bee? How many species are they going to test? Did they examine bees over the entire life cycle, or just adults? Does this bacteria occupy an existing niche?
- jryb 7y ago
  They did not use gene drives. Also, no one uses gene drives in applications, except to study gene drives explicitly.
wiremaus 7y ago
Neonicotinoid pesticides are the likely culprit. Companies that produce them have been sinking large sums of money into studies that search for alternative explanations, and responses that don't simply consist of eliminating neonics. https://theintercept.com/2020/01/18/bees-insecticides-pesticides-neonicotinoids-bayer-monsanto-syngenta/ https://theintercept.com/2020/01/18/bees-insecticides-pestic...
- ars 7y ago
  France banned those pesticides more than a year ago, but their rates of colony collapse did not go down, if anything they went up. So neonicotinoid pesticides are probably ruled out as the culprit.
  - jacobwilliamroy 7y ago
    The replacement is probably just as bad. I've seen industrial scale pesticide application in the U.S. Doesn't matter what you're spraying, it's going to cause Problems in the quantities that they use.
kpgraham 7y ago
As a beekeeper who loses half his hives every year, I can definitely say that Colony collapse is caused by varroa mites. You can easily see them on the bees. I have tried all kinds of treatments for varroa.I don't want to argue with those who are convinced that pesticides cause colony collapse, but I am certain, for me, it is varroa. I am waiting for this treatment is available. I spend a thousands of dollars a year to restock my bees.
- eranimo 7y ago
  It's possible that pesticides and varrola mites are both causing it.
- bjelkeman-again 7y ago
  Could it be that the colony is less able to handle pressure from varroa because of other stresses, like pesticides? We use several methods in combination to deal with the varroa. If a colony has too much after the winter we treat with ApiGuard, and the honey produced during the period is marked for winter feed. We do drone larvae cutting (not sure that is the terminology used) and treat with oxalic acid before the winter. We let them winter on at least 50% honey. We have lost one colony in the last four winters, that was wintering on sugars alone. We overwinter three four colonies normally. So we are just hobbyists and our methods may not scale.
  - raxxorrax 7y ago
    Some have argued that taking honey and replacing it with sugared water is bad for the bees immune system and general health. There was a very small scale study if you even can call it that, but I cannot find the article about it anymore. Since taking honey hasn't been this deadly before, some form of infection seems plausible and the mites would fit here. As far as I know they are primarily feeding on fat reservoirs of bees. Are there any signs of varroa on the dead colonies?
    - nicoburns 7y ago
      > Some have argued that taking honey and replacing it with sugared water is bad for the bees immune system and general health It'd be pretty hard to believe that it wasn't bad for the bees health.

60 points by ghostoftiber 7y ago

jacobwilliamroy 7y ago

USE LESS PESTICIDES AND THE BEES WILL COME BACK FFS

tehjoker 7y ago
Details here: https://theintercept.com/2020/01/18/bees-insecticides-pesticides-neonicotinoids-bayer-monsanto-syngenta/ https://theintercept.com/2020/01/18/bees-insecticides-pestic...

Covzire 7y ago

From listening to talks by Paul Stamets, it sounds like there might be a correlation between colony collapse disorder and lack of fungi / destruction of the old growth forest in a given area, a place where sensitive fungi can grow and thrive. Bees feed on mycellium/fungi, the fungi suppresses other bacteria, at least as far as I understand it. I wonder how much that's been tested by actual beekeepers.

ghostoftiber 7y ago
Post a link?
- filoeleven 7y ago
  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32194-8 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32194-8 From the abstract: “Extracts from amadou (Fomes) and reishi (Ganoderma) fungi reduced the levels of honey bee deformed wing virus (DWV) and Lake Sinai virus (LSV) in a dose-dependent manner. In field trials, colonies fed Ganoderma resinaceum extract exhibited a 79-fold reduction in DWV and a 45,000-fold reduction in LSV compared to control colonies.” Stamets has tons of talks on YouTube, a lot of them have the same content in them and anything after 2016 might have the bee story in it. Looks like he plans to start selling these feeders this year, which is good news! https://fungi.com/pages/bees https://fungi.com/pages/bees
filoeleven 7y ago
Stamets has been doing tests with beekeepers, having them give some of their hives sugar water with 1% (maybe lower) mycelium extract, which he says contains antiviral and antimicrobial properties. I think he’s testing extracts from a number of species too. Anyway, he says the results are great—IIRC none of the hives given extract collapsed. That said, I haven’t heard anything about him bringing this to market, which is frustrating. I’d rather rely on strengthening an eons-old symbiosis than a newly-engineered bacteria. EDIT: see my other comment, this should be selling later this year,

jacobwilliamroy 7y ago

Is this gene drives? Do inoculated bees behave differently or make a different honey? Does it only affect one species of bee? How many species are they going to test? Did they examine bees over the entire life cycle, or just adults? Does this bacteria occupy an existing niche?

jryb 7y ago
They did not use gene drives. Also, no one uses gene drives in applications, except to study gene drives explicitly.

wiremaus 7y ago

Neonicotinoid pesticides are the likely culprit. Companies that produce them have been sinking large sums of money into studies that search for alternative explanations, and responses that don't simply consist of eliminating neonics. https://theintercept.com/2020/01/18/bees-insecticides-pesticides-neonicotinoids-bayer-monsanto-syngenta/ https://theintercept.com/2020/01/18/bees-insecticides-pestic...

ars 7y ago
France banned those pesticides more than a year ago, but their rates of colony collapse did not go down, if anything they went up. So neonicotinoid pesticides are probably ruled out as the culprit.
- jacobwilliamroy 7y ago
  The replacement is probably just as bad. I've seen industrial scale pesticide application in the U.S. Doesn't matter what you're spraying, it's going to cause Problems in the quantities that they use.

kpgraham 7y ago

As a beekeeper who loses half his hives every year, I can definitely say that Colony collapse is caused by varroa mites. You can easily see them on the bees. I have tried all kinds of treatments for varroa.I don't want to argue with those who are convinced that pesticides cause colony collapse, but I am certain, for me, it is varroa. I am waiting for this treatment is available. I spend a thousands of dollars a year to restock my bees.

eranimo 7y ago
It's possible that pesticides and varrola mites are both causing it.
bjelkeman-again 7y ago
Could it be that the colony is less able to handle pressure from varroa because of other stresses, like pesticides? We use several methods in combination to deal with the varroa. If a colony has too much after the winter we treat with ApiGuard, and the honey produced during the period is marked for winter feed. We do drone larvae cutting (not sure that is the terminology used) and treat with oxalic acid before the winter. We let them winter on at least 50% honey. We have lost one colony in the last four winters, that was wintering on sugars alone. We overwinter three four colonies normally. So we are just hobbyists and our methods may not scale.
- raxxorrax 7y ago
  Some have argued that taking honey and replacing it with sugared water is bad for the bees immune system and general health. There was a very small scale study if you even can call it that, but I cannot find the article about it anymore. Since taking honey hasn't been this deadly before, some form of infection seems plausible and the mites would fit here. As far as I know they are primarily feeding on fat reservoirs of bees. Are there any signs of varroa on the dead colonies?
  - nicoburns 7y ago
    > Some have argued that taking honey and replacing it with sugared water is bad for the bees immune system and general health It'd be pretty hard to believe that it wasn't bad for the bees health.