Paul,

I   would love to respond in great detail to your questions but due to
recent rotator cuff surgery typing is a real problem.
I will try a few short answers and perhaps others on the list will fill in
the blanks.

>There has been much talk of late on Varroa resistance and I am wondering as
to the state of progress because many seem unsure.

To my knowledge and from discussions with the worlds best researchers we
have got colonies which can be left untreated for a few seasons but the bee
which can handle varroa forever without treatment has still not been found.

>I understood that Varroa resistance was a thing of the future and that
research was still being conducted in this field - largely by Harbo and
Rinderer.

In the U.S. yes. Harbo is looking past the Russian bees and bees with the
SMR trait for complete varroa resistance. He is now looking at PMIB.


 What level of resistance has been established?

Too early to tell as the Russians have only been out a few years  and the
SMR trait introduced into your own bees has had varying results.

Are resistant bees available
commercially?

Hybrid SMR and Hybrid Russian are availble in the U.S..

 >Does resistance mean "resist" or "tolerate"?

I would say tolerate. Consistant low varroa count is a indicator. Many times
the queen has had bees which tolerate varroa and the *daughter queen*
workers are not varroa tolerant. Which continues to puzzle us!

 <Has anybody sequenced the SMRP, or does anybody know exactly how it works?

An SMR queen (Weaver apiaries) was sequenced but about all I know.

 >Does it neccessarily prevent mite reproduction?

Yes. We know varroa has almost no reproduction in certain colonies of bees.
We call this SMR. (suppressed mite reproduction)


> Does anybody know the status of
SMR progress in A.m. capensis in South Africa?

The SMR trait has been seen in all the melliferia (certain hives) which have
been looked at. I would think the SMR trait would also be found in certain
capensis hives. SMR by itself has not proven to be the answer we had hoped
it would be.

>Sorry to ask all these questions at once, am just interested in the
progress on varroa resistance.

I am only responding Paul because I have been out of town for two days and
you had not received a response. You ask complicated questions which could
take pages of reply. If the list can not fill in the blanks with new posts I
would suggest searching the archives for old posts of mine on the subject.

Above is about all I can say now about your questions because of the typing
problem. I was forced to spend last night in an out of state motel room as
the pain from my surgery was almost unbearable and could not drive.

Bob

Ps Fellow BEE-L people please ask questions of the list in regards to my
posts ( instead of me directly) till my condition improves so others can
help with answers. If questions remain unanswered I will try and find a way
to reply. Thanks!

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