Location: Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Research
Project Number: 6050-21000-016-00-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Mar 5, 2020
End Date: Mar 4, 2025
Objective:
Meaningful contributions towards enhancing the economic value of the nation’s commercially managed honey bee populations can be achieved through identifying, characterizing and breeding more robust bees. The proposed 5-year plan focuses on synergistic projects (Fig.1) that capitalize on genetic and breeding approaches with the following objectives:
Objective 1: Identify and evaluate traits, strains and stocks for improved honey bee health.
Sub-objective 1A: Understand the mechanisms of viral transmission and resistance or tolerance to reduce impacts of infection through selective breeding.
Sub-objective 1B: Evaluate genotype-dependent nutrient efficiency in commercial honey bee stocks.
Sub-objective 1C: Evaluate genotype-dependent nutritional stress resistance in commercial honey bee stocks.
Sub-objective 1D: Characterize the impact of genetically based variation in vitellogenin -- the primary honey bee storage protein with roles in immune function, oxidative stress resistance and lifespan -- on colony and reproductive (queen and drone) health and productivity.
Sub-objective 1E: Identify and characterize genetic and physiological mechanisms of pesticide resistance in honey bees.
Objective 2: Characterize genetic, physiological and behavioral aspects of important traits, strains and stocks.
Sub-objective 2A: Examine patterns of genetic diversity and loci under selection in United States honey bee breeding populations, with a focus on stocks exhibiting high VSH activity.
Sub-objective 2B: Elucidate the interaction between individual and social immune defenses.
Sub-objective 2C: Improve understanding of the biology of the VSH trait.
Objective 3: Conduct traditional breeding or marker-assisted selection of honey bees.
Sub-objective 3A: Ascertain the effect of inbreeding on genetic diversity across the honey bee genome to support breeding and maintaining health of breeding populations.
Sub-objective 3B. Assess genetic diversity at the sex locus of commercial breeding populations of honey bee stocks developed by USDA, ARS HBBGPL.
Sub-objective 3C: Determine the potential usefulness of a simple hygiene assay as a selection tool to predict VSH-based mite resistance in honey bee colonies.
Objective 4: Develop management tools for improving honey bee health.
Sub-objective 4A: Identify and characterize genetic differences in honey bee response to introduced dsRNA, and test for correlations with viral infection and resistance.
Sub-objective 4B: Improve understanding of the flight activity of Russian honey bees during almond pollination.
Sub-objective 4C: Evaluate the efficacy of a microalgae platform to improve honey bee colony performance and health.
Sub-objective 4D: Determine the sublethal effects of fungicides on honey bee health.
Sub-objective 4E: Assess sustainability of Varroa control methods.
Approach:
Objective 1: Identify and evaluate traits, strains and stocks for improved honey bee health. [NP305, Component 2, Problem Statements 2B and 2C]
Sub-objective 1A: Understand the mechanisms of viral transmission and resistance or tolerance to reduce impacts of infection through selective breeding.
Hypothesis 1A.i: Honey bee resistance to viruses varies with virus type and inoculation route in addition to genotype and life stage of the bees. (Led by M. Simone-Finstrom with K. Ihle)
