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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/26/MNGK7PFOMS1.DTL">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/26/MNGK7PFOMS1.DTL</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>UCSF
scientist tracks down suspect in honeybee deaths<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<p class=byline><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a href="mailto:srussell@sfchronicle.com">Sabin Russell, Chronicle
Staff Writer</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=date><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Thursday,
April 26, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/04/26/MNGK7PFOMS1.DTL&o=0&type=printable"><span
style='text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=64 height=64 id="_x0000_i1025"
src="cid:image001.gif@01C787E8.140EDFB0" vspace=1
alt="About one-quarter of the United States' 2.4 million honey..."></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><span
id=articlebody>A UCSF researcher who found the SARS virus in 2003 and later won
a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" for his work thinks he has
discovered a culprit in the alarming deaths of honeybees across the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Tests of
genetic material taken from a "collapsed colony" in Merced County
point to a once-rare microbe that previously affected only Asian bees but might
have evolved into a strain lethal to those in Europe and the United States,
biochemist Joe DeRisi said Wednesday. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>DeRisi
said tests conducted on material from dead bees at his <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Mission</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType> lab found genes of the
single-celled, spore-producing parasite Nosema ceranae, which researchers in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Spain</st1:place></st1:country-region> have
recently shown is capable of wiping out a beehive. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"It
is wise to strike a conservative note, because this is early data, but it is
interesting,'' he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Government
scientists who have been tracking the phenomenon they call Colony Collapse
Disorder were skeptical, however, saying the parasite had been an early suspect
in the bee die-off but that they had concluded it probably was not responsible.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>With a
mounting sense of urgency, agricultural scientists are trying to find out just
what has caused the disappearance of as much as a quarter of the nation's 2.4
million honeybee colonies since November, when the die-off was first observed
by a Pennsylvania beekeeper. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>It's not
just bad news for beekeepers and honey lovers. Growers of fruits, nuts and many
vegetables rely on honeybees to pollinate their crops, which contribute $15
billion to the nation's agricultural output, according to a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Cornell</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
study. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>DeRisi is
a specialist in the rapid identification of killer germs. In March 2003, he
played a key role in helping the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention identify the cause of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome,
the viral illness that claimed 774 lives and wreaked havoc for a time on the
Asian economy. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Using a
laboratory tool called a microarray -- which can instantly match a sample to
gene sequences from more than a thousand viruses -- he found that SARS was
caused by a previously unknown variant of coronavirus, a microbial family
responsible for a variety of ailments including the common cold. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
following year, he was awarded a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship, the prize given
by the foundation to individuals who have no idea they were nominated until
they win. The awards are popularly known as genius grants. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In
researching the bee die-offs, DeRisi's team evaluated samples of potential bee
pathogens supplied by the Army's biodefense laboratory, the <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Edgewood</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Chemical</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Biological</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType>
at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Maryland</st1:place></st1:State>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Scientists
there had developed a technique to concentrate possible pathogens into a sample
that could be run through a rapid genetic screen test such as DeRisi's. Samples
taken from dead bees in a collapsed colony from Le Grand (<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Merced</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType>) were shipped via overnight
mail to DeRisi's <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:place></st1:City>
lab last week. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>DeRisi
used a technique that allows rapid reading of the genetic code of the suspect
bug. It is the same approach, known as "shotgun sequencing," that has
been used to read the genomes, or the genetic code, of creatures ranging from
bacteria to human beings. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
strips of genetic code are then matched to computerized libraries of known
genes from thousands of germs. It was this test that pinpointed Nosema ceranae.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"The
bees must have been loaded with this stuff,'' said DeRisi, who collaborated in
the experiment with Dr. Donald Ganem of the UCSF Department of Microbiology and
Immunology. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Fueling
the UCSF scientists' interest in the parasite is a recent paper, published by
the Journal of Invertebrate Pathology in January, in which a team of Spanish
researchers infected hives of European honeybees with Nosema ceranae. Within
eight days, the colonies were wiped out. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
federal government's leading honeybee scientists, however, are not ready to
conclude that DeRisi has found anything significant. Jeffery Pettis, research
leader for the U.S. Agriculture Department's Bee Research Laboratory in <st1:City
w:st="on">Beltsville</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Md.</st1:State>, said
reports suggesting that this parasite has recently appeared in the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
are simply wrong. "There are historical samples from the mid-1990s,'' he
said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Before
then, the parasite was seldom seen outside <st1:place w:st="on">Asia</st1:place>,
where it favored a species of honeybee found only there. It did not cause
colony collapse in <st1:place w:st="on">Asia</st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Now,
Pettis said, tests have shown that Nosema ceranae has displaced a related
strain that had been the dominant form of the parasite in the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
Pettis said. However, large quantities of the microbe have been found in bee
colonies that are healthy, as well as in those that have collapsed, he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Pettis
said the parasite could simply be taking advantage of a newly developed
weakness in the insects' immune systems. "Mostly we think of Nosema as a
stress disorder of honeybees,'' he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>It is
possible that a more virulent strain of Nosema ceranae has evolved in the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
but Pettis doubts it. "We can't rule it out completely,'' he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Evan Skowronski,
senior team leader for biosciences at the Army lab and a friend of DeRisi's,
said that because the stake are high, every important lead in the search for
the cause of the honeybee deaths needs to be pursued. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We're
not ready to say this is it, but it is a pathogen of interest,'' he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Skowronski
said there is no reason to think that the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder is
"anything other than Mother Nature.'' However, he said that any natural
threat to honeybees has major implications for the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. "This needs a
high level of attention,'' he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>DeRisi
agreed that more tests will be needed to prove or disprove the parasite's role
in the disappearance of the bees. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"In
our results, the control bees did not have it, and the sick ones were loaded
with the stuff,'' he said. "It is going to take a lot of time to figure
out.'' <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-style:italic'>E-mail Sabin Russell at <a
href="mailto:srussell@sfchronicle.com">srussell@sfchronicle.com</a>.</span></font></i>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</span>
<p id=url><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/26/MNGK7PFOMS1.DTL<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p id=pageno><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>This
article appeared on page <strong><b><font face="Times New Roman">A - 1</font></b></strong>
of the San Francisco Chronicle<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'>Jennifer Tsang<br>
<a href="http://coevolution.org">Coevolution Institute</a><br>
<st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">423 Washington St.</st1:address></st1:Street>
5th Fl.<br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">CA</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94111-2339</st1:PostalCode></st1:place><br>
T: 415.362.1137</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'>F: 415.362.3070</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'><a
href="http://www.nappc.org">www.nappc.org</a></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'><a
href="http://www.pollinator.org">www.pollinator.org</a></span></font><font
color="#004000"><span style='color:#004000'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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