Sunday, May 17, 1992
 
Bee-l readers;
 
The second issue of the Honey Bee Molecular Genetics Newsletter has been
distributed to subscribers.  I have posted a copy for your information, but do
not plan to post many more issues on Bee-L.  Therefore, If you want to
continue to receive this newsletter (by snail mail) you MUST subscribe.  Its
is free, and you can subscribe by sending me your name, address, phone number,
FAX number, E-mail address, and a 20 word description of your interests.
 
Charles Milne - MILNE@WSUVM1
 
 
HONEY BEE MOLECULAR GENETICS NEWSLETTER
 
Editor:   Charles P. Milne, Jr.
          Department of Entomology
          Washington State University
          Pullman, WA 99164-6832
 
Volume 1  *  Number 2  *  April 1992
 
 
***  Editorial  ***
 
This Honey Bee Molecular Genetics Newsletter appears to be meeting a need.
Thirteen new subscribers have enlisted since the first issue, and the number
of foreign subscribers (including Canada) is now fourteen.  If you know
someone that might like to receive this Newsletter, send them a copy!
 
A bee biology network is available for anyone interested in the biology of
bees with access to a mainframe computer connected to BITNET or INTERNET.  To
subscribe, send the following message via BITNET to LISTSERV@ALBNYVM1
 
SUB BEE-L your full name
 
You can send and receive messages from others interested in bee biology on a
daily basis.  If you have difficulty sending or receiving e-mail, contact your
computer services center.
 
One function of this newsletter is to foster collaboration, and at least one
researcher has expressed interest in establishing collaborative ties.  Mario
Sergio Palma, in Brazil, is interested in the; 1) study of mitochondrial DNA
polymorphisms of stingless bees by the use of electrophoresis of restriction
fragments, both as an auxiliary tool for taxonomic purposes and as criteria to
follow migration routes, 2) construction of gene banks for Apis mellifera and
some species of stingless bees, and 3) investigation of possible mechanisms
involved in the regulation of gene expression (at the transcriptional and
translational level) in sex and caste determination of Apis mellifera and
Scaptotrigona postica.  He would appreciate interactions with molecular
genetic researchers interested in collaboration.
 
IUve heard it said that information is power, and for researchers, information
in the form of references to published work is always useful.  A computer file
of 1650 fire ant references is available from Dr. Sanford Porter (USDA-ARS,
Maverl, P.O. Box 14565, Gainsville, FL 32604) and I have a file containing
over 1100 honey bee references, I could share with others.  Handling data once
entered in some computer file format is so easy that building a large
reference file for a personal computer would be a relatively simple task.  It
is possible to search the titles, authors, key words, year and journal of
thousands of articles on computer in seconds.  Send me a description if you
have a reference file and are willing to share it.  If you have any thoughts
on  reference file sharing or building larger databases, send me a note.
There are probably other reference databases available that I do not know
about, and they could be listed for others in the next issue.
 
 
***  Research Review  ***
 
Africanized Bee Research
 
G. Barrie Kitto and Ellen Verdel
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712
 
Our laboratory is involved in two Africanized bee projects; developing rapid
biochemical tests to distinguish Africanized and European bees, and using
allozymes to analyze bee populations as Africanization proceeds in Texas.
 
We identified three proteins (termed A-1, A-2, and B-1) unique to Africanized
Honey Bees (AHB) using narrow range, non-denaturing isoelectric focusing
(IEF).  Over 800 individuals from sixteen sources in Mexico, Honduras, Costa
Rica, Venezuela, and Brazil were screened by IEF.  Not every individual AHB
had all three of these proteins, but only 7% lacked one of the AHB-specific
proteins.  Building on our results, Hung and his colleagues at the USDA also
identified a similar set of AHB-specific proteins.
 
A rapid test for identifying these AHB-specific proteins would allow for a
speedy determination of whether a swarm was Africanized by analysis of a few
bees.  To test this approach, bees from the first putative Africanized swarm
to enter the United States (October, 1990), were screened using IEF, and 90 of
the 100 bees tested contained the AHB proteins.  Analysis of a companion swarm
caught simultaneously in the double-sided trap served as an excellent control,
and tested 100% domestic.  In another example, two swarms caught in May of
1991 in central Tamaulipas, Mexico, proved to be highly Africanized according
to our criteria (96% and 100% Africanized).  These results were confirmed by
other observations, such as cell size.
 
The AHB-specific proteins were purified by IEF and SDS-gel electrophoresis for
structural studies and antibody preparation.  Rabbit polyclonal antibodies
directed against the A-1 and A-2 proteins cross-reacted not only with these
proteins in AHB samples, but also with the other AHB-specific protein, B-1.
Unfortunately, this antisera also reacted to a lesser extent with a protein
(termed B-2) found in all European and 50% of Africanized bee populations.
Cross-reactivity is indicative of a degree of structural relatedness of these
four proteins.  Adsorption of the antisera with an immobilized European honey
bee extract provided AHB-specific antibodies.  We are involved in the
production of monoclonal antibodies to A-1, A-2, and B-1.
 
These antibodies allow for the development of ELISA assays for AHB detection
and for the development of TdipstickU type assays for rapid and economical
detection of AHB.  The ELISA assay should provide a means of quantitative
estimation, in a laboratory setting, of the degree of Africanization in
samples from swarms and traplines.  The dipstick assay should be well suited
for rapid, low cost field analysis such as hive sampling and identification of
Africanized swarms.
 
Our allozyme studies are concerned with the dynamics of honey bee population
changes as ingress of Africanized bees occurs in Texas.  These studies are
being carried out in collaboration with Drs. Orley Taylor (University of
Kansas) and Bill Rubink (USDA-Weslaco), and involve electrophoretic analysis
of isozymes of malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and hexokinase (HK).  The analysis
of honey bee MDH by electrophoresis has shown the presence of three alleles
for the cytoplasmic form of this enzyme.  Previous studies of Apis mellifera
scutellata from Africa showed that the R5S or RfastS allele was present in
100% of these colonies, but was only present in low frequencies in other
subspecies.  These findings suggested that the MDH R5S allele might be a
useful marker to assess the degree of Africanization of bee colonies in North
and South America.
 
In order to assess the usefulness of this approach, we determined the MDH
allele frequencies of a number of Africanized bee samples from Central and
South America, and carried out a broad survey of European bees across the
United States.  The Africanized bee samples from Central and South America
have high MDH-5 allele frequencies, but certainly not 100%.  More importantly,
if single worker bee samples are used for frequency analysis, allele
frequencies of European bees show a broad range of variation.  Even different
colonies of European bees from the same apiary can have different MDH allele
frequencies.  A similar situation holds for hexokinase allele analysis.
However, if both MDH and HK analysis are employed, and, most importantly, if
they are used to define the queen genotypes of colonies, then these techniques
can effectively provide an analysis of population changes during
Africanization.  Baseline data for bee populations across Texas, prior to
Africanization, are being established.
 
 
***  Local News  ***
 
The inhabitants of one village were very dissatisfied with the quality of the
local drinking water. After years of fruitless complaints to the local
authorities, the villagers chipped in, got enough money together to pay for a
test and sent a sample of the water to a laboratory for testing. A few weeks
later they got the result of the test.  It said: "Your horse has diabetes."
 
 
***  New Subscriber List  ***
 
The list of original subscribers is contained in Volume 1 Number 1.  Send any
changes or additions to the editor.
 
1. Ralph A. Bram, USDA, ARS, NPS, BARC-West, Bldg. 005, Rm. 213, Beltsville,
MD 20705, Phone (301) 504-5771, FAX (301) 504-5467, E-mail ??
 
Administrate honey bee and pollination research.
 
2. Dewey M. Caron, Department of Entomology, University of Delaware, Newark,
DE 19717-1303, Phone (302) 831-2526, FAX (302) 292-3651, E-mail ??
 
I would like to keep up with the field.
 
3. Howell V. Daly, Department of Entomological Sciences, 201 Wellman Hall,
University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, Phone (510) 642-9018, FAX (510)
642-7428, E-mail ??
 
Morphometrics of honey bees; identification of Africanized and European honey
bees; geographic variation; comparisons with molecular techniques.
 
4. George C. Eickwort, Department of Entomology, Comstock Hall, Cornell
University, Ithaca, NY 14853-0999, Phone (607) 255-2096, FAX (607) 255-0939,
E-mail ??
 
DNA fingerprinting in primitively social colonies of sweat bees; molecular
approaches to phylogeny of Apoidea.
 
5. Eric H. Erickson, USDA, ARS, Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, 2000 East
Allen Road, Tucson, AZ 85719, Phone (602) 670-6380, FAX (602) 670-6493, E-mail
??
 
Honey bee biology and crop pollination including the development and use of
molecular technologies in problem solving.
 
6. Joe M. Graham, American Bee Journal, 51 South Second Street, Hamilton, IL
62341, Phone (217) 847-3324, FAX (217) 847-3660, E-mail ??
 
I would like to keep up with the field.
 
7. G. Barrie Kitto, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of
Texas, Austin, TX 78712, Phone (512) 471-3279, FAX (512) 471-8696, E-mail ??
 
Rapid immunoassays for Africanized honey bees; population genetics of honey
bees using isozymes.
 
8. Pekka Pamilo, Department of Genetics, Box 7003, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden,
Phone (011-46) 18-671303, FAX (011-46) 18-672705, E-mail ??
 
Evolutionary genetics of social insects.
 
9. Michael Prentice, Department of Entomology, 218 Wellman Hall, University of
California, Berkeley, CA 94720, Phone (510) 642-1842, FAX (510) 526-5201, E-
mail ??
 
Phylogenetics of Aculeata, especially sphecid wasps and bees using molecular
and morphological characters.
 
10. Justin O. Schmidt, USDA, ARS, Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, 2000 East
Allen Road, Tucson, AZ 85719, Phone (602) 670-6380, FAX (602) 670-6493, E-mail
??
 
Genetics of venom peptides and proteins; bee genome mapping.
 
11. Tom Seeley, Section of Neurobiology and Behavior, Mudd Hall, Cornell
University, Ithaca, NY 14853, Phone (607) 255-6574, FAX (607) 255-8088, E-mail
TDS@CORNELLA
 
Mechanisms and functional design of honey bee social behavior.
 
12. Steve Taber, Goudous, 82370 Villebrumier, France, Phone (011-33) 63-68-05-
59, FAX ??, E-mail ??
 
Genetic and microbiological approach to developing honey bees resistant to
chalkbrood.
 
13. Virginia K. Walker, Department of Biology, QueenUs University, Kingston,
Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada, Phone (613) 545-6123, FAX (613) 545-6806, E-mail
WALKERVK@QUCDN
 
Gene transfer and molecular genetics of insecticide resistance and stress
response (heat, desiccation, frost) in Diptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and
Orthoptera.
 
 
The Honey Bee Molecular Genetics Newsletter is published quarterly to
facilitate communication and collaboration among those using molecular genetic
techniques on honey bees.  The Newsletter is free, and interested scientists
can become subscribers by sending the editor your name, address, phone number,
FAX number, E-mail address and a 20 word description of your research
interests.
 
 
***  New Science  ***
 
About 6-7 years ago, I was in a philosophy class and the teaching assistant
was explaining Descartes.  He was trying to show how things don't always
happen the way we think they will and explained that, while a pen always falls
when you drop it on Earth, it would just float away if you let go of it on the
Moon.
 
My jaw dropped a little.  I blurted "What!" Looking around the room,I saw that
only my friend Mark and one other student looked confused by the TA's
statement.  The other people just looked at me like "What's your problem?"
 
"But a pen would fall if you dropped it on the Moon, just more slowly." I
protested.
 
"No it wouldn't." the TA explained calmly, "because you're too far away from
the Earth's gravity."
 
Think.  Think.  Aha!  "You saw the APOLLO astronauts walking around on the
Moon, didn't you?" I countered, "why didn't they float away?"
 
"Because they were wearing heavy boots." he responded, as if this made perfect
sense (remember, this is a Philosophy TA who's had plenty of logic classes).
 
By then I realized that we were living in totally different worlds, and did
not speak each otherUs language, so I gave up.  As we left the room, Mark was
raging.  "How can all those people be so stupid?"
 
I tried to be understanding.  "They knew this stuff at one time, but it's not
part of their basic view of the world, so they've forgotten it.  Most people
could probably make the same mistake."
 
To prove my point, we went back to my room and began randomly selecting names
from the campus phone book.  We called about 30 people and asked this
question:
 
If you're standing on the Moon holding a pen, and you let go, will it a) float
away, b) float where it is, or c) fall to the ground?
 
About 47 percent got this question correct.  Of the ones who got it wrong, we
asked the obvious follow-up question:  You've seen films of the APOLLO
astronauts walking on the Moon, why didn't they fall off?
 
About 20 percent of the people changed their answer to the first question when
they heard this one.  But the most amazing part was that about half
confidently answered, "Because they were wearing heavy boots."