bee colony collapse report

**j* e* m* s* <h*@sbcglobal.net>**

NEWS RELEASE:
Genetic Survey Finds Association Between CCD and Virus
___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Kim Kaplan, (301) 504-1637, kim.kaplan@ars.usda.gov
September 6, 2007
--View this report online, plus photos and related stories, at 
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
___________________________________________

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6--A team led by scientists from the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), 
Pennsylvania State University (PSU), and Columbia University (CU) has 
found an association between colony collapse disorder (CCD) in honey 
bees and a honey bee virus called Israeli acute paralysis virus, 
according to a paper published in the journal Science this week.

ARS entomologist Jeffery S. Pettis, research leader of the agency's 
Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md.; Diana L. Cox-Foster, a 
professor in the PSU Department of Entomology; and W. Ian Lipkin, 
director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at the Columbia 
University Mailman School of Public Health, led the team that did 
genetic screening of honey bees collected from 30 colonies with CCD 
and 21 colonies with no CCD from four locations in the United States.

The genetic screening allowed the researchers to identify pathogens 
to which the sampled honey bees had been exposed. In total, the honey 
bees--both CCD and non-CCD honey bees--were found to harbor six 
symbiotic types of bacteria and eight bacterial groups, 81 fungi from 
four lineages, and seven viruses.

The search for potential pathogens was done using a new means of 
sequencing the genetic material from the healthy and unhealthy bees. 
This technology, termed high-throughput sequencing, allows for an 
unbiased look at DNA from all the organisms, bacteria, fungi and 
viruses present in the bees. Then the DNA sequences are searched 
against known genomic libraries for best matches. This gives a very 
precise picture of the organisms present, at least to the family or 
genus level. Often specific species can be identified, and unknown 
organisms--if present--can also be catalogued for further study. The 
sequencing work was led by Michael Egholm, vice president of 454 Life 
Sciences Corp. of Branford, Conn., followed by a large group effort 
to further identify specific groups of microorganisms.

The only pathogen found in almost all samples from honey bee colonies 
with CCD, but not in non-CCD colonies, was the Israeli acute 
paralysis virus (IAPV), a dicistrovirus that can be transmitted by 
the varroa mite. It was found in 96.1 percent of the CCD-bee samples.

This is the first report of IAPV in the United States. IAPV was 
initially identified in honey bee colonies in Israel in 2002, where 
the honey bees exhibited unusual behavior, such as twitching wings 
outside the hive and a loss of worker bee populations. IAPV has not 
yet been formally accepted as a separate species; it is a close 
relative of Kashmir bee virus, which has been previously found in the 
United States.

"This does not identify IAPV as the cause of CCD," said Pettis. "What 
we have found is strictly a strong correlation of the appearance of 
IAPV and CCD together. We have not proven a cause-and-effect 
connection."

Even if IAPV proves to be a cause of CCD, there may also be other 
contributing factors--which researchers are pursuing--that stress the 
bee colony and allow the virus to replicate.

The next step is exposing healthy hives to IAPV and seeing if CCD develops.

CCD became a matter of concern in the winter of 2006-2007 when some 
beekeepers began reporting losses of 30 to 90 percent of their hives. 
While colony losses are not unexpected during winter weather, the 
magnitude of loss suffered by some beekeepers was highly unusual.

The main symptom is finding no or a low number of adult honey bees 
present with no dead honey bees in the hive. Often there is still 
honey in the hive and immature bees (brood) are present.

Pollination is a critical element in agriculture, as honey bees 
pollinate more than 130 crops in the United States and add $15 
billion in crop value annually. There were enough honey bees to 
provide pollination for U.S. agriculture this year, but beekeepers 
could face a serious problem next year and beyond if CCD becomes more 
widespread and no treatment is developed.

More information about CCD can be found at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/ccd/.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.

___________________________________________
jems
-- 
Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
Garden writer, speaker, author, photographer
Region III Director Garden Writers Association
Phone: (317) 251.3261
Fax: (317) 251.8545
E-mail: hoosiergardener@sbcglobal.net
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