These researchers aim to use the advanced tools discovered in the genomic age to greatly improve selective breeding without resorting to genetic modification of the honey bee genome:

We present a novel way to select for highly polygenic traits. For millennia, humans have used observable phenotypes to selectively breed stronger or more productive livestock and crops. Selection on genotype, using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and genome profiling, is also now applied broadly in livestock breeding programs; however, selection on protein/peptide or mRNA expression markers has not yet been proven useful. Here we demonstrate the utility of protein markers to select for disease-resistant hygienic behavior in the European honey bee (Apis mellifera L.).

After three generations of selection, the resulting marker-selected stock outperformed an unselected benchmark stock in terms of hygienic behavior, and had improved survival when challenged with a bacterial disease or a parasitic mite, similar to bees selected using a phenotype–based assessment for this trait. This is the first demonstration of the efficacy of protein markers for industrial selective breeding in any agricultural species, plant or animal.

Though the first transgenic modification of bees has been reported, it is unlikely that industrial use of genetically-modified honey bees will be accepted by the public at this time. Therefore, tools that enable accelerated stock enrichment without resorting to genetic modification are highly desirable. While genetic markers for hygienic behavior and Varroa-sensitive hygiene have been identified, the existing ones are unlikely to be tightly enough linked to the causal genes to be robust to the high recombination rate that honey bees exhibit.

In this study, we show that robust expression biomarkers of a disease-resistance trait can be used to select for that trait. After three generations of selection, the resulting stock performed significantly better than an unselected benchmark population when challenged with disease or Varroa mites. This is the first demonstration of an expression marker for selective breeding in any agricultural species, plant or animal. This also represents a completely novel way to select for highly polygenic traits.

Guarna, M. M., Hoover, S. E., Huxter, E., Higo, H., Moon, K. M., Domanski, D., ... & Desai, S. (2017). Peptide biomarkers used for the selective breeding of a complex polygenic trait in honey bees. Scientific reports, 7(1), 8381. 

             ***********************************************
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