<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large">From Mary Clock Rust. Thank you.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large"><br></div><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><font size="2">Laurie Davies Adams</font><div><font size="2">Executive Director Emeritus</font></div><div><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent"><font size="2">Pollinator Partnership</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent"><font size="2">423 Washington Street, 5th 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<br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Clock-Rust, Mary</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Clock-Rust.Mary@epa.gov">Clock-Rust.Mary@epa.gov</a>></span><br>Date: Wed, Jan 17, 2018 at 8:11 AM<br>Subject: Lithium chloride could kill Varroa destructor mites without harming bees<br>To: Laurie Adams <<a href="mailto:lda@pollinator.org">lda@pollinator.org</a>><br><br><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal">FYI! For pollinator list serv<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/01/16/tackling-bees-greatest-threat-lithium-chloride-kill-varroa-destructor-mites-without-harming-bees/" target="_blank">https://<wbr>geneticliteracyproject.org/<wbr>2018/01/16/tackling-bees-<wbr>greatest-threat-lithium-<wbr>chloride-kill-varroa-<wbr>destructor-mites-without-<wbr>harming-bees/</a>
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<h2 style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="color:#3a3a3a">Tackling bees' greatest threat: Lithium chloride could kill Varroa destructor mites without harming bees<u></u><u></u></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-family:"Open Sans";color:#3a3a3a"><a href="https://geneticliteracyproject.org/writer/ross-pomeroy/" target="_blank">Ross Pomeroy</a> |
<a href="https://geneticliteracyproject.org/source/genetic-literacy-project/" target="_blank">Genetic Literacy Project</a> | January 16, 2018<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a"><img border="0" width="762" height="508" style="width:7.9416in;height:5.2916in" id="m_-5878682309625285226Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D38F83.EC468A50" alt="https://geneticliteracyproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/bee_varroa_mite-1024x683.jpg"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">German scientists primarily based out of the University of Hoffenheim have stumbled upon a simple solution that could deal a blow to honeybees' <a href="https://phys.org/news/2016-06-insights-bees-deadly-varroa-mite.html" target="_blank">greatest
threat</a>. They've found that a tiny dose of the compound lithium chloride kills <em><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Varroa destructo</span></em>r mites without harming bees.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">The scientists <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-19137-5" target="_blank">detailed</a> their incredible findings in the January 12th publication of <em><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/" target="_blank">Scientific
Reports</a></span></em>.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><i><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a"><img border="0" width="300" height="242" style="width:3.125in;height:2.525in" id="m_-5878682309625285226Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D38F83.EC468A50" alt="varroa 32432"><em><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">V.
destructor,</span></em></span></i><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a"> more commonly known as the <a href="https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2017/11/29/the_biggest_myth_about_the_bee_apocalypse.html" target="_blank"><em><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#439ebc;text-decoration:none">Varroa</span></em> mite</a>,
is a <a href="https://www.livescience.com/20815-honeybee-collapse-mite-virus.html" target="_blank">scourge of honeybees across the globe</a>. Upon infiltrating a colony, the mites latch on to bees, <a href="https://www.realclearscience.com/journal_club/2016/06/08/bees_commit_suicide_to_save_colony_from_parasites_109664.html" target="_blank">sucking
their hemolymph</a> (essentially blood) and spreading the diseases they carry. <a href="http://time.com/4885569/honeybee-population-increase/" target="_blank">According to the USDA</a>, 42 percent of commercial hives in the U.S. were infested in summer 2017, and 40 percent
of beekeepers said the parasite seriously harmed their colonies. By comparison, only 13 percent reported harm from pesticides.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">Chemical compounds exist to combat the parasites but they are outdated and growing increasingly ineffective, the researchers write, adding that no new active compounds have been registered in the
last 25 years.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">The dearth of options prompted <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1003035" target="_blank">scientists</a> at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem to experiment with a technique
called RNA interference. In their study, they fed bees double-stranded RNA via a sugar solution to knockout vital genes in <em><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Varroa </span></em>mites. The mites ingested the lethal RNA via bees' hemolymph and
subsequently died.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">Inspired by those results, the German researchers sought to replicate them by repeating the experiment with slightly tweaked methods. Indeed, mites infesting bees that were fed sugar water with the
designed RNA rapidly died, but so did mites in a control group given another RNA that should have been ineffective. The astonishing results prompted the researchers to suspect that the lithium chloride used to produce the RNA – and thus present in the sugar
water – was actually killing the parasites. A battery of subsequent examinations confirmed their hypothesis.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">The scientists then carried out numerous experiments testing lithium chloride against <em><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Varroa</span></em> mites, including ones that approximated field
studies. They found that feeding honeybees minuscule amounts of lithium chloride (no more than 25 <a href="https://www.convertunits.com/info/millimole" target="_blank">millimoles</a>) over 24 to 72 hours wiped out 90 to 100 percent of <em><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Varroa</span></em> mites
without significantly increasing bee mortality. (Below: The figure shows the surviving proportion of bees and mites fed lithium chloride compared to those not fed lithium chloride.)<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><a href="https://geneticliteracyproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/439595_5_.png" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#439ebc;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="700" height="530" style="width:7.2916in;height:5.525in" id="m_-5878682309625285226Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image004.jpg@01D38F83.EC468A50" alt="https://geneticliteracyproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/439595_5_.png"></span></a><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">Ziegelmann
et al. / Scientific Reports<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">According to the researchers, lithium chloride could be put to use very quickly as it is easily applied via feeding, will not accumulate in beeswax, has a low toxicity for mammals, and is reasonably
priced. However, wider studies on free-flying colonies testing long-term side effects are required first, as well as analyses of possible residues in honey.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">Francis Ratnieks, a Professor of Apiculture at the University of Sussex, expressed skepticism about the new finding.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">"We can kill 97% of the <em><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Varroa</span></em> in a brood less hive with a single application of <a href="http://www.beeculture.com/oxalic-acid-effective-easy-on-bees-but/" target="_blank">oxalic
acid</a>, which takes five minutes to apply and is already registered and being used by beekeepers," he told <em><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">RCScience</span></em> via email. "I think it will be difficult in practice to apply lithium salts
to colonies to kill varroa and get the same level of control... There are also the wider issues of registration and potential contamination of the honey with a product that would not normally be there."<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">Still, the Hoffenheim researchers are hopeful.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">"Lithium chloride has potential as an effective and easy-to-apply treatment for artificial and natural swarms and particularly for the huge number of package bees used for pollination in the United
States," they conclude.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">Ross Pomeroy is Chief Editor of RealClearScience and a zoologist and conservation biologist by training. Follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/SteRoPo" target="_blank"><span class="m_-5878682309625285226username"><span style="color:#439ebc;text-decoration:none">@SteRoPo</span></span></a></span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a">This article was originally published at Real Clear Science as "<a href="https://www.realclearscience.com/quick_and_clear_science/2018/01/15/accidental_discovery_could_save_bees_from_their_greatest_threat.html" target="_blank">Accidental
Discovery Could Save Bees From Their Greatest Threat</a>" and has been republished here with permission.</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#3a3a3a"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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