Honeybees and Colony Collapse Disorder
One of the many issues/stories to which I pay attention is the recent development of Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD amongst honeybee populations. Opinions about this problem have ranged from concern by farmers and scientists to full fledged alarm over yet another allegedly human inspired environmental catastrophe by ....erm.... concerned individuals.
It turns out that the bees have been carrying the reason for CCD inside them all along.
Researchers from the University of Illinois and the U.S. Department of Agriculture used information compiled through the Honeybee Genome Project to compare gene expressions in healthy bees with CCD-affected bees. They discovered large quantities of fragmented ribosomal RNA in CCD-affected bees. These fragments were found in the healthy bees, too -- they are apparently products of the damage repair mechanism in insects in general -- but they're present to a much greater extent in CCD-affected bees.
Researchers believe that the bees were attacked by a number of viruses that left them vulnerable to further infection. Another potential factor was the recent introduction of bees from Australia that may have been carrying viruses unknown to their American brethren.
One potential result of this episode may be that the American honeybee populations will become more virus resistant as the survivors breed more virus resistant bees. Evolution in action. Nature adjusting to a new equilibrium.
In any case, at least now it isn't a mystery. And that is a good thing.
by Dann
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