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Bees Disease - One Step Closer To Finding A Cure
Honeybees are important pollinators of crops, fruit and wild flowers.
Therefore, they are indispensable for a sustainable and profitable
agriculture but also for the maintenance of the non-agricultural ecosystem.
Honeybees are attacked by numerous pathogens including viruses, bacteria,
fungi and parasites.
by Staff Writers
Berlin, Germany (SPX) May 06, 2008
Scientists in Germany have discovered a new mechanism of infection for the
most fatal bee disease. American Foulbrood (AFB) is the only infectious
disease which can kill entire colonies of bees. Every year, this notifiable
disease is causing considerable economic loss to beekeepers all over the
world. The only control measure is to destroy the infected hive.
The mechanism of infection (pathogenic mechanism) was originally thought to
be through the growth of a bacterium called Paenibacillus larvae in the
organ cavity of honey bee larvae. The accepted view was that the bacteria
germinate preferentially at either end of the gut of honey bee larvae then
make holes in the gut wall and enter the larval organ cavity, the presumed
primary place of bacterial proliferation.
In a paper published in Environmental Microbiology, Professor Elke Genersch
and colleagues in Berlin explain that they have discovered that these
bacteria cause infection in a completely different way. They colonize the
larval midgut, do most of their multiplying in the mid-gut - living from the
food ingested by the larvae - until eventually the honey bee larvae gut
contains nothing but these disease-causing (pathogenic) bacteria.
It isn't until then that the bacteria 'burst' out of the gut into the organ
cavity thereby killing the larvae. These findings are a major breakthrough
in honeybee pathology.
"Now that we fully understand the way in which this disease works, we can
start to look at ways of preventing the spread of infection" said Professor
Genersch.
Honeybees are important pollinators of crops, fruit and wild flowers.
Therefore, they are indispensable for a sustainable and profitable
agriculture but also for the maintenance of the non-agricultural ecosystem.
Honeybees are attacked by numerous pathogens including viruses, bacteria,
fungi and parasites.
For most, if not all of these diseases, the molecular pathogenesis is poorly
understood hampering the development of new ideas about how to prevent and
combat honeybee diseases.
Professor Genersch added: "Molecular understanding of pathogen-host
interactions is vital for the development of effective measures against
infectious diseases. Therefore, in the long run, our findings will help to
save large numbers of bees all over the world."
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