> IMHO the search for bees that have mutated to suppress varroa without
> external help is interesting but unlikely to help the ordinary
> beekeeper for a very long time...

Understanding the mechanism or mechanisms of tolerance can be very useful in
working towards solutions.

> ...I do not want to throw out good temper, adaptation to
> climate, low swarming just to get inherent varroa suppression.

Simply adopting the new stock in place of the current stock is probably the
least useful way to employ such a strain of bees.  The best use would likely
be to learn the ways that such bees achieve balance with the mites and
viruses, etc., and to then see if these properties can be easily identified
and enhanced in commercially useful strains using selective breeding.

That, incidentally was the idea behind the SMR research, but many (most)
beekeepers and queen producers missed the concept and wanted to use the
Baton Rouge SMR stock (which was not particulary notable in any other trait)
rather than using the SMR selection process to find and select for SMR
ability their own stock.

> Identifying and transfering just the genes responsible for varroa
> tolerance would take beekeeping into the arena of GM that is
> repugnant in so many ways.

Identifying and transferring are two very different things; identification
need not necessarily result in transferring.  Identification is also an
essential part of the traditional selection process.  Any improvement in
identification methods should result in improvements in breeding by
selection.

Techniques where tiny samples of tissue from individuals (or even the
castings of pupae) are examined for the characteristic being sought are now
practical and can mean much faster, cheaper, and more accurate selection is
possible.  If study can identify genes associated with a desirable
characteristic, then queens can be tested for those genes before they even
emerge from the cell, and only the best kept for hatching and breeding.

The ability to quickly identify desirable characteristics in the genes of
immature individual queens without having to raise, breed and evaluate
offspring shortens the selection process immeasurably, and reduces the
expense and chance of error drastically as well.

The first step, however, is to find tolerant bees, learn what genes, if any,
are associated with observed tolerance, then find out if they exist in the
desirable strains of bees we currently use.

Then, if that is the case, it may be possible to select for those genes.

allen
A Beekeeper's Diary: http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

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