Location: Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Research
Project Number: 6050-21000-014-010-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2016
End Date: Sep 30, 2021
Objective:
The only objective being done at this facility is listed below:
Determine the molecular, neurological and behavioral effects on adult bees of parasitism and virus infection during development in colonies with and without nutritional stress.
Approach:
From each of 6 source colonies per two stocks (Italian and Russian), five treatments will be examined: 1) newly emerged, mite infested; 2) newly emerged, uninfested; 3) virus-injected as white-eyed pupae; 4) PBS/control-injected as white-eyed pupae; and 5) uninjected white-eyed pupae. White-eyed pupae will be injected with known amounts of Deformed Wing Virus following previously established protocols. Upon emergence, 200 individuals per treatment will be RFID-tagged and introduced into a single host-colony outfitted with RFID-readers at the entrance. The RFID readers scan tagged bees as they leave and re-enter the colony, recording all flight data and ultimately survival of the tagged individuals. Another 200 bees per treatment per source colony will be painted on the thorax and abdomen to indicate treatment and colony source. At 7d old and every 3d thereafter, 8 marked bees per treatment will be collected for measurement of chemical messengers and virus titers. If differences in the compounds stated above are found between treatment groups, we will determine if olfactory capabilities are affected using a proboscis extension response conditioning, a technique to analyze learning rates and olfactory sensitivity.
