<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.5848" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document
face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV>Electronic Information Kit:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/bees/index.htm<BR><BR><BR>Honey Bees Selected by
ARS Toss Out Varroa Mites
<BR>___________________________________________<BR><BR>ARS News
Service<BR>Agricultural Research Service, USDA<BR>Alfredo Flores, (301)
504-1627, alfredo.flores@ars.usda.gov<BR>September 10, 2009<BR>--View this
report online, plus photos and related stories, at<BR>www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
<BR>___________________________________________<BR><BR>Honey bees are now
fighting back aggressively against Varroa mites,<BR>thanks to Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) efforts to develop bees<BR>with a genetic trait that
allows them to more easily find the mites and<BR>toss them out of the
broodnest.<BR><BR>The parasitic Varroa mite attacks the honey bee, Apis
mellifera L., by<BR>feeding on its hemolymph, which is the combination of blood
and fluid<BR>inside a bee. Colonies can be weakened or killed, depending on
the<BR>severity of the infestation. Most colonies eventually die from
varroa<BR>infestation if left untreated.<BR><BR>Varroa-sensitive hygiene (VSH)
is a genetic trait of the honey bee that<BR>allows it to remove mite-infested
pupae from the capped brood-developing<BR>bees that are sealed inside cells of
the comb with a protective layer of<BR>wax. The mites are sometimes difficult
for the bees to locate, since<BR>they attack the bee brood while these
developing bees are inside the<BR>capped cells.<BR><BR>ARS scientists at the
agency's Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and<BR>Physiology Research Unit in Baton
Rouge, La., have developed honey bees<BR>with high expression of the VSH trait.
Honey bees are naturally<BR>hygienic, and they often remove diseased brood from
their nests. VSH is<BR>a specific form of nest cleaning focused on removing
varroa-infested<BR>pupae. The VSH honey bees are quite aggressive in their
pursuit of the<BR>mites. The bees gang up, chew and cut through the cap, lift
out the<BR>infected brood and their mites, and discard them from the broodnest.
<BR><BR>See this activity in the attached video link here:
<BR>http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/bees/index.htm <BR><BR>This hygiene kills the
frail mite offspring, which greatly reduces the<BR>lifetime reproductive output
of the mother mite. The mother mite may<BR>survive the ordeal and try to
reproduce in brood again, only to undergo<BR>similar treatment by the
bees.<BR><BR>To test the varroa resistance of VSH bees, the Baton Rouge
team<BR>conducted field trials using 40 colonies with varying levels of
VSH.<BR>Mite population growth was significantly lower in VSH and
hybrid<BR>colonies than in bee colonies without VSH. Hybrid colonies had half
the<BR>VSH genes normally found in pure VSH bees, but they still
retained<BR>significant varroa resistance. Simpler ways for bee breeders to
measure<BR>VSH behavior in colonies were also developed in this study.
<BR><BR>This research was published in the Journal of Apicultural Research
and<BR>Bee World.<BR><BR>ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief
intramural scientific<BR>research agency.
<BR>___________________________________________<BR><BR>This is one of the news
reports that ARS Information distributes to<BR>subscribers on weekdays. Send
feedback and questions to the ARS News<BR>Service at
NewsService@ars.usda.gov.<BR><BR>* You are subscribed to "ARS News" as
tara.weavermissick@ars.usda.gov.<BR>* To change the address, please notify the
ARS News Service at<BR>NewsService@ars.usda.gov.<BR>* To unsubscribe, send a
blank email
to<BR>leave-173154-92739.9c7cdabef9e21dbe5affadb2a6f7dd99@ls.ars.usda.gov.<BR>*
Other ARS news products are available by e-mail. For details about<BR>them or to
subscribe, please contact the ARS News Service or
visit<BR>http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/lists.htm.<BR>__________________________________________<BR>ARS
News Service, Information Staff, Agricultural Research Service<BR>5601 Sunnyside
Ave., Room 1-2251, Beltsville MD 20705-5128<BR>NewsService@ars.usda.gov |
www.ars.usda.gov/news <BR>Phone (301) 504-1636 | fax (301)
504-1486<BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face="Gill Sans MT" size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Laurie Davies Adams<BR>Executive
Director<BR><B>Pollinator Partnership </B><BR>423 Washington Street, 5th
floor<BR>San Francisco, CA
94111<BR>415-362-1137<BR>LDA@pollinator.org</FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial
color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#0000ff size=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="14"><B><A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></B></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"></B><BR><A
href="http://www.nappc.org/">www.nappc.org</A><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#000000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="12"><B><I>National Pollinator Week is June 21-27, 2010. <BR>Beecome
involved at <A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></I></FONT></B></DIV></FONT><DIV CLASS="aol_ad_footer" ID="88f3c86878fbf09b94c6096e201a6407"><br/><font style="color:black;font:normal 10pt arial,san-serif;"> <hr style="margin-top:10px"/></font></DIV></BODY></HTML>