I am curious about the progress of this. Evidently, the concept has been around a long time, but nothing useful has come of it yet.
In 2010 we read:
One of the most promising
developments in this field is the RNAi (RNA
interference) approach that uses small interfering
RNA (siRNA) to take advantage of the
gene silencing pathway for the post-transcriptional
regulation of gene expression present in
every somatic cell of every metazoan eukaryote
(plant and animal)
-- GENERSCH, AUBERT Vet. Res. (2010) 41:54
> Our findings on V. destructor are the first report of gene knockdown in any mite species and demonstrate that the small size of such organisms is not a major impediment to applying gene knockdown approaches to the study of such parasitic pests. The immersion in dsRNA solution method provides an easy, inexpensive, relatively high throughput method of gene silencing suitable for studies in V. destructor, other small mites and immature stages of ticks.
> There is an urgent need to harness modern molecular techniques for research into the biology and, ultimately, the control of this non-model organism, V. destructor. RNA interference (RNAi) is a gene silencing technique that is becoming an ever more powerful tool in investigating the functional role of specific genes that may be potential targets for chemotherapeutic intervention.
-- Campbell et al. Parasites & Vectors 2010, 3:73
Then, in 2012:
United States Patent Application 20120258646 Sela; Ilan ; et al. October 11, 2012
Compositions for Controlling Varroa Mites in Bees
> An isolated nucleic acid agent is disclosed comprising a nucleic acid sequence which downregulates expression of a gene product of a Varroa destructor mite.
> The present inventors now propose treatment of Varroa mite infestations in bees by down-regulating particular Varroa mite gene products.
> Thus, according to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of preventing or treating a Varroa destructor mite infestation of a bee, the method comprising administering to the bee an effective amount of a nucleic acid agent comprising a nucleic acid sequence which downregulates expression of a gene product of a Varroa destructor mite, thereby preventing or treating a Varroa destructor mite infestation of a bee.
> Taken together, these results indicate that feeding bees Varroa-specific dsRNA results in both direct and indirect transmission of mite-specific dsRNA and siRNA to mites feeding off the bees and larval/pupae in the hives, as well as bi-directional transmission of the Varroa-specific RNA sequences from parasitizing mites back to "naive" bees, and that feeding the Varroa-specific dsRNA is an effective and safe method for reducing mite infestation in the hives.
Peter Loring Borst
peterlborst1@icloud
peterloringborst.com<http://peterloringborst.com>
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm
|
