Immune-boosting therapy helps honey bees resist deadly viruses

Date:
July 1, 2023
Source:
University of Florida
Summary:
Scientists have successfully tested a novel way of boosting honey
bees' immune systems to help them fend off deadly viruses, which
have contributed to the major losses of the critical pollinator
globally.


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==========================================================================
FULL STORY ========================================================================== Scientists have successfully tested a novel way of boosting honey
bees' immune systems to help them fend off deadly viruses, which have contributed to the major losses of the critical pollinator globally.

In a new study, the research team, which includes entomologists with
the University of Florida, the Agricultural Research Service-USDA,
Louisiana State University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
showed that prompting honey bees' cells to produce free radicals helped
the bees weather a host of viruses.

In fact, the treatment greatly reduced, and in some cases, nearly
eliminated virus activity in full scale field studies.

"This approach is especially exciting because it doesn't just target a
specific type of virus but helps with many different viruses," said Daniel Swale, senior author of the study. Swale is the associate director for
training and special projects in the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute and associate professor in the UF/IFAS entomology and nematology department.

"Additionally, we demonstrated that our treatment works both in the lab
and in colonies that each contain 80,000 bees in the field. This is huge because, in a hive setting, bees are exposed to so many different viruses
and stressors, so successfully controlling viruses in that environment
is very encouraging," said Swale, who completed some of this research
while at Louisiana State University.

Honey bee colonies, and the beekeepers who manage them, play an important
role in food production by pollinating many crops. In recent years,
honey bee populations have seen significant declines, and viruses, while
not the top cause of honey bee deaths, are among the main contributors.

"Varroa mites are the number one cause of honey bee losses, but it's
important to point out that varroa mites, aside from physically weakening
bees, also transmit viruses to bees. If we can mitigate viruses in
honey bee colonies, that would be a big step forward," said Michael Simone-Finstrom, a co-author of the study and a research molecular
biologist with the ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology
Research Lab in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In the experiment, the researchers used a compound called pinacidil
to alter potassium ion channels, a protein found in the cells of bees'
and most living things. Altering these channels produced slightly more
free radicals.

"While free radicals are often bad for cell health, in moderate amounts
they can be therapeutic, as we see in this study. In this case, the
additional free radicals signal to the immune system to ramp up, which
helps the bees fight off viruses," said Troy Anderson, a co-author of the
paper and a professor of entomology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The scientists administered the drug to honey bee colonies by mixing it
into sugar water and drizzling the water over the honey comb at night. The
bees then consumed the sugar water and fed it to their young. During the
day, bees are constantly moving in an out of the hive, so giving them
the treatment at night maximizes the number of bees that will receive it.

The treatment protected bees from six potentially deadly honey bee
viruses: Israeli acute paralysis virus, deformed wing viruses A and B,
black queen cell virus and Lake Sinai viruses 1 and 2. The researchers
also showed that pinacidil helped more bees survive in colonies heavily infested with varroa mites.

Administering pinacidil to commercial honey bee hives may only be feasible
for some beekeepers, the researchers said, but the study opens the door to identifying other active ingredients that may work better and cost less.

"One of the big take-aways from this study is that potassium ion channels
can be a target for improving immune system function in honey bees and
possibly other insects. We would like to find a molecule, such as a
peptide, or a new technology that has the same effect as pinacidil but
is more accessible to beekeepers," Swale said.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Plants_&_Animals
# Virology # Microbes_and_More # Agriculture_and_Food #
Insects_(including_Butterflies)
o Earth_&_Climate
# Exotic_Species # Water # Weather # Environmental_Issues
* RELATED_TERMS
o Honeybee o Beekeeping o Pollination_management o Honey o
Earth_science o Bee o Africanized_bee o Immune_system

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Florida. Original
written by Samantha Murray. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Christopher J. Fellows, Michael Simone-Finstrom, Troy D. Anderson,
Daniel
R. Swale. Potassium ion channels as a molecular target to reduce
virus infection and mortality of honey bee colonies. Virology
Journal, 2023; 20 (1) DOI: 10.1186/s12985-023-02104-0 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230701135742.htm

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