Honey bee viruses didn’t seem to be a major issue for a long time. At least, they weren’t in the focus of beekeepers – and not that many bee scientists either. This changed quite a bit: first, the varroa mite transmitted the Deformed Wing Virus (DWV) leading to one of the most prominent symptoms of […]
The finding that engineered bacteria could help against varroa and the Deformed Wing Virus (DWV) made a big buzz. These bacteria, Snodgrassella alvi, live naturally in the bee gut. Leonard et al. modified them to produce double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), which should interfere with crucial viral and varroa genes. Sounds crazy. But let’s go step by […]
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