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Subject:
From:
James Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 20 Apr 2023 17:41:31 -0400
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While "the L1595P and the M1823I amino acid changes were found in resistant varroa mite strains that are not found in any other arthropod", this does not imply that there is any explicit connection between these changes and resistance to any varroacide(s).

This was the essential point lost on everyone who was taken in by the "metagenomics" approach to looking for the proximate cause of "CCD".  Taking a genome, and trying to match it to datasbase entries for things like viruses and bacteria, and other potential pathogens only works if we are looking for something we already know about.  You can't match something you don't know of, 'cause it ain't in the database.

This was the cool promise of the whole "virus particle detection" approach used in the CCD project, as, at least for viruses, you could detect stuff that you had never seen before.  (Except that the apparatus at that time had a small problem, and was breaking some particles into fragments, confusing matters greatly...)  But very few people bought into the "novel iridescent virus" view, led astray by the sirens of metagenomics and the fast-talking 3-card monte game played in analyzing the samples without each sample's metadata.

Similarly, there could be other amino acid changes that were not even identified as changes, as first you'd need to sequence enough mites to get a good idea of the least common denominator genome for the mite, and THEN look for all the changes after sequencing a statistically significant sample of both resistant and non-resistant mites.

So, whole genome analysis.  (Yes, the computer power is cheap enough, as we can take commodity off-the-shelf computers (even video game consoles have been used) and make "Beowolf clusters", which have been a hobby of mine for some time.)

But saying "here's an amino acid change associated with resistance" seems about as useful as saying "a 10mm bolt has been in every car crash since 2010".

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