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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Insect Behavior and Biocontrol Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #327726
Research Project: Improved Biologically-Based Methods for Insect Pest Management of Crop Insect Pests

Location: Insect Behavior and Biocontrol Research

Title: Co-acquisition of pesticide resitance within the hive

Author
item PRICE, XAVIER - Florida A & M University
item KANGA, LAMBERT - Florida A & M University
item Shirk, Paul
item ANANGA, A - Florida A & M University

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/24/2016
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The Western honey bee Apis mellifera is of major economic importance for its honey production and as the main pollinator of agricultural crops. 90 percent of all commercial pollination is performed by managed colonies of honey bees making it a $15 billion industry. Globally, 87 of the leading 115 food crops directly consumed by humans, which accounts for 35 percent, are dependent on animal pollinators. The total number of managed honey bee colonies in the US has decreased from 5 million in the 1940s to only 2.5 million today. Since 2006 colony losses of 22-90 percent have been reported by beekeepers. There is a general consensus that the ecto-parasitic mite, Varroa destructor is the most serious threat to bee health due to its hemolymph feeding behavior that causes morphological and physiological damage through the vectoring of various RNA bee viruses. This mite has developed resistance to pyrethroid insecticides through point mutations associated with the arachnid sodium channel. One in particular, the VmNa gene is a prime candidate for RNA interference or gene silencing in order to explore its role in conferring resistance. We successfully cloned all 6648gb of the VmNa gene via designed primers for further use in the RNAi protocol. Interestingly, resistance genes for tetracycline, the antibiotic used to prevent the bacterial disease American Foulbrood, have been found in the gut microbiota of honey bees. Given the relation hive pests have with bees and hive products, this warrants investigation into the occurrence of these resistance genes among their microbiota. We redesigned primers for the screening of extracted GI tracts for Tetr genes and utilized them to reconfirm the genes in bees. It is imperative that we investigate the mechanisms for these phenomenon to better evaluate current bee keeping practices in order to avoid repeating any negative impact cycles.