Over the past half century, managed honey bee colonies have plummeted from 6 million in 1947 to 2.5 million today, although CDC data have recently shown a slight bump up in the numbers. What we found is that it’s as simple as eating. When the forager bee returns to their hive, the bacteria is digested in Queen Bee’s gut and wind up stored in the queen’s “fat body”, which is an organ similar to a liver.
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A panel of worldwide scientists has recently found so while studying the proteins in the blood of bees and according to them this discovery has the potential of innovations which would be benefitting us on how to make food.
Queen bees do not usually leave the colony, as a result, worker bees bring her food.
Due to some pathogens affecting bees, this discovery has allowed scientists to try developing a vaccine for bees, since there are some pathogens that still affect them.
Like humans, bees introduce their offspring to pathogens in small concentrations so their immune system can develop a resistance to it. But the bees’ delivery system is quite different. Bees play an important role in global food production.
Parts of the bacteria cling to the vitellogenin protein in the fat body and then they are carried to the queen’s eggs through her blood.
Armed with the new knowledge about vitellogenin, the scientists are working on the first ever edible and natural vaccine for beneficial insects like bees. “They would then be able to stave off disease”.
The researchers have affirmed that this process is not able to protect bees from all diseases, like American Foul Brood, the deformed wing virus and the nosema fungi. Researchers don’t know exactly what causes this, but pesticides, pests, pathogens and nutrition problems may all be contributing factors. About 35 percent of the world’s cash crops depend on the health of these vital pollinators. Insect vaccines could play an important role in helping to combat colony collapse disorder, in addition to fighting a variety of diseases. Study’s author Gro Amdam from Arizona State University, said, “Because this vaccination process is naturally occurring, this process would be cheap and ultimately simple to implement”.
This discovery could have far-reaching benefits for other species, as well as substantial, positive impacts on food production.
Vitellogenin is something that bees and other egg-laying animals such as fish and poultry have.
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This study was funded by several Academy of Finland grants 265971, 251337 and 252411, as well as Norwegian Research Council grants 180504 and 191699.
