More from Charlie Mraz:

> We now have a station in the U. S. that is supposed to be a bank for preserving genetic strains of bees for future use. Unfortunately, so far as I have been able to observe, most of the strains being preserved are various degenerate freaks. What we need is a storehouse of vigorous, hardy bees with completely new blood lines to create that genetic diversity to select and crossbreed new vigor and resistance into the bees which are now lost. To my knowledge, such genetic stock cannot be found in the U. S. at the present time.

> This problem of genetic diversity with bees in the U. S. has neither the support of our beekeeping scientists nor of the beekeepers themselves. Both seem content to solve the disease problem with “magic drugs”, an easier solution to the problem than the complexities of restoring the natural resistance bees have maintained on their own over their millions of years of existence.

> After 40 years of effort I have not succeeded in getting any cooperation from large queen breeders to help produce and perpetuate this diversity of genes for resistance and to make it available to the many beekeepers who may be interested. Perhaps we will have to wait until an epidemic of disease resistance or immunity to drugs threatens to wipe out beekeeping.

> The big problem is to find resistant stock with which to requeen. As long as there is no interest in looking for it, it will never be found. Every beekeeper should read the above article from Agricultural Research; it may mean the survival of our beekeeping business for the future.

Gleanings in Bee Culture, December 1973

* * *

I believe problem has been met head on, however:

"Genetic Characterization of Russian Honey Bee Stock Selected for
Improved Resistance to Varroa destructor"

A. Lelania Bourgeois1 and Thomas E. Rinderer USDA-ARS Honey Bee
Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Laboratory, 1157 Ben Hur Road,
Baton Rouge, LA 70820
1 Corresponding author, e-mail: [log in to unmask]

ABSTRACT
Maintenance of genetic diversity among breeding lines is important in
selective breeding and stock management. The Russian Honey Bee
Breeding Program has strived to maintain high levels of heterozygosity
among its breeding lines since its inception in 1997 ... The data
indicate that the overall design of the breeding program has been
successful in maintaining high levels of diversity and avoiding
problems associated with inbreeding.

Journal of Economic Entomology 102(3):1233-1238. 2009
doi: 10.1603/029.102.0349

-- 
Peter Loring Borst
Ithaca, NY  USA

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