Skip to main content
ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Invasive Species and Pollinator Health » Research » Research Project #448646

Research Project: Harnessing Diverse Fungal Natural Products for Honey Bee Antiviral Therapeutics

Location: Invasive Species and Pollinator Health

Project Number: 2030-30500-001-007-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Apr 15, 2026
End Date: Dec 14, 2029

Objective:
Honey bees are essential agricultural pollinators, and they are threatened by record declines that are closely linked to viral pathogens. The proposed work employs state-ofthe-art approaches to identify safe and effective antiviral treatments from fungi, one of the richest and most diverse sources of bioactive natural products.

Approach:
To achieve othe goal, we will apply the following approaches: i) Conduct high-throughput bioassays to screen diverse fungal cultures for antiviral activity and potential toxicity. ii) Evaluate promising extracts and fractions for their relative safety and antiviral activities in laboratory bioassays and honey bee field colonies. iii) Chemically characterize treatments and isolate specific fungal compounds responsible for antiviral activities in bees.