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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 29 Sep 2018 14:32:30 -0400
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it is possible to silence genes of the ectoparasitic mite, 
Varroa destructor, which is the single most 
detrimental pest of A. mellifera by causing damage 
by direct feeding and the vectoring of multiple
viruses. Research demonstrated the significant
reduction in the number of Varroa mites within 
honeybee colonies by suppressing a number of
Varroa housekeeping transcript targets via RNAi.

Application of genome editing CRISPR/Cas 
technologies to arthropod control

Novel technologies aimed to control the damage
caused by arthropod pest species in agriculture, 
being developed at USDA ARS also involve the
application of gene-editing. The advantage of gene-
editing resides in the fact that it results in stable
and heritable changes in the genome of arthropods, 
which contrasts with the more transient nature of
RNAi-based insect control and its limitations
(exposure, uptake, and dosage issues). Additionally,
gene-editing generates permanent alterations within
arthropod genomes that assist in basic research
aimed to elucidate biochemical functions or
applications in novel control tactics. USDA ARS
research conducted within these areas directed
towards future insect control technologies are
highlighted within the following subsections.

Arthropod control using RNAi-based knockdown 
and CRISPR gene-editing approaches has the capacity 
to improve agriculture in the United States and
globally by lowering management costs, increasing 
production efficiency, enhancing food quality, and
ensuring the stability of the food supply. 

Arthropod genomics research in the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service: Applications of RNA interference and CRISPR gene editing technologies in pest control.

“CRISPR: I think this is the wave of the future if we're going to survive as an industry,” says Tony DiMare, vice-president of the DiMare Company, a US tomato grower. The tech will be particularly important, he says, for environmental stress, pests and disease.

Tom Adams, Monsanto's vice-president of biotechnology, says the company is exploring how CRISPR might be used to enhance disease resistance, drought tolerance and yield in some crops.

Long before CRISPR promised to change the world, bioscientists were excited about another genetic way to control pests: RNA interference (RNAi), a mechanism in which double-stranded RNA molecules are taken up by an organism and effectively shut down a particular gene.

Monsanto and Syngenta are interested in RNAi, too. Monsanto says its first products — one to protect against the mite Varroa destructor, a pest of honey bees, and another against flea beetles that attack oilseed rape (canola) — will be on the market by the mid-2020s. Syngenta will have its first product, for the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata), “by the early 2020s”, says Steven Wall, who oversees regulatory and product-safety strategy for RNAi products at Syngenta in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

In a 2013 review of the technology's risks, US Department of Agriculture scientists wrote that although RNAi is promising for crop protection, its benefits should be weighed against “the relative environmental risks that the technology poses”.

Nature 543, 302–304 (16 March 2017) doi:10.1038/543302a

¶

Just my two cents, but I am not that excited by the idea of beekeeping falling into the hands of the gene editors of Big Ag. It may not be the bucolic pursuit it once was, but some of us still cherish beekeeping as a pursuit which makes us feel like a part of nature. Gene editing is already a reality but I would hope that we can avoid it in this case. My bees looking really good this year, not as a result of anything more than good timing and good conditions. I have treated for mites using formic, which for me is the least bad.

PLB

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