Monitoring Bee Health

Problem

How can the spread of viral pathogens among bees be prevented?

Pollinators are experiencing population decline around the world.

Findings

An international team of researchers collected samples of DNA and RNA from twelve bee species in nine countries and then developed a novel sequencing technique to detect viruses. Researchers detected both known and twenty-seven never-before-seen viruses belonging to at least six new families.

Impact

This inexpensive and efficient technique allows researchers to monitor bee health around the world in order to:

• Identify additional unknown viruses in bee populations.
• Monitor imported bee populations for potential threat of virus transmission to local bees.
• Determine whether the viruses in infected bees are passed to crop plants.

Related Research Areas: Integrated Health Solutions, Environmental Resilience

Research Credit

Team

• Christina Grozinger, David Galbraith, Zachary Fuller, Allyson Ray, Maryann Frazier, J. Francisco Iturralde Martinez, Harland Patch, Cristina Rosa, Joyce Sakamoto, Scott Stanley, Anthony Vaudo, and collaborators from additional institutions

Participating Departments

• Entomology
• Plant Pathology

Competitive Funding

• National Geographic Society; USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Federal and State Appropriations

• USDA NIFA Hatch Project PEN04579, Accession #1004871

Emerging Discoveries

Scientists find evidence of 27 new viruses in bees

June 21, 2018

An international team of researchers has discovered evidence of 27 previously unknown viruses in bees. The finding could help scientists design strategies to prevent the spread of viral pathogens among these important pollinators.

Summer weather conditions influence winter survival of honey bees

February 01, 2021

Winter survival of honey bee colonies is strongly influenced by summer temperatures and precipitation in the prior year, according to Penn State researchers, who said their findings suggest that honey bees have a "goldilocks" preferred range of summer conditions outside of which their probability of surviving the winter falls.

Published Research

Investigating the viral ecology of global bee communities with high-throughput metagenomics

• Galbraith, D. A., Fuller, Z. L., Ray, A. M., Brockmann, A., Frazier, M., Gikungu, M. W., Martinez, J. F. I., Kapheim, K. M., Kerby, J. T., Kocher, S. D., Losyev, O., Muli, E., Patch, H. M., Rosa, C., Sakamoto, J. M., Stanley, S., Vaudo, A. D., & Grozinger, C. M. (2018). Investigating the viral ecology of global bee communities with high-throughput metagenomics. Scientific reports, 8(1), [8879]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27164-z

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