Gene-knockdown in the honey bee mite Varroa destructor by a non-invasive approach : studies on a glutathione S-transferase

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Transcriptome analysis of the synganglion from the honey bee mite, Varroa destructor and RNAi knockdown of neural peptide targets

Acknowledgements This work was funded by BBSRC-LINK grant # BB/J01009X/1 and Vita Europe Ltd. We are grateful to the Scottish Beekeepers Association, especially Mr Phil McAnespie in supporting this work at its inception. We acknowledge partial funding from a Genesis Faraday SPARK Award, part of a Scottish Government SEEKIT project for the early part of this work. We are grateful to Prof David Evans for his advice on Varroa destructor viruses.Peer reviewedPostprin

Modelling the spread of American foulbrood in honeybees

We investigate the spread of American foulbrood (AFB), a disease caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae, that affects bees and can be extremely damaging to beehives. Our dataset comes from an inspection period carried out during an AFB epidemic of honeybee colonies on the island of Jersey during the summer of 2010. The data include the number of hives of honeybees, location and owner of honeybee apiaries across the island. We use a spatial SIR model with an underlying owner network to simulate the epidemic and characterize the epidemic using a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) scheme to determine model parameters and infection times (including undetected ‘occult’ infections). Likely methods of infection spread can be inferred from the analysis, with both distance- and owner-based transmissions being found to contribute to the spread of AFB. The results of the MCMC are corroborated by simulating the epidemic using a stochastic SIR model, resulting in aggregate levels of infection that are comparable to the data. We use this stochastic SIR model to simulate the impact of different control strategies on controlling the epidemic. It is found that earlier inspections result in smaller epidemics and a higher likelihood of AFB extinction

Efficient use of sentinel sites : detection of invasive honeybee pests and diseases in the UK

Sentinel sites, where problems can be identified early or investigated in detail, form an important part of planning for exotic disease outbreaks in humans, livestock and plants. Key questions are: how many sentinels are required, where should they be positioned and how effective are they at rapidly identifying new invasions? The sentinel apiary system for invasive honeybee pests and diseases illustrates the costs and benefits of such approaches. Here, we address these issues with two mathematical modelling approaches. The first approach is generic and uses probabilistic arguments to calculate the average number of affected sites when an outbreak is first detected, providing rapid and general insights that we have applied to a range of infectious diseases. The second approach uses a computationally intensive, stochastic, spatial model to simulate multiple outbreaks and to determine appropriate sentinel locations for UK apiaries. Both models quantify the anticipated increase in success of sentinel sites as their number increases and as non-sentinel sites become worse at detection; however, unexpectedly sentinels perform relatively better for faster growing outbreaks. Additionally, the spatial model allows us to quantify the substantial role that carefully positioned sentinels can play in the rapid detection of exotic invasions

Invasion dynamics of Asian hornet, Vespa velutina (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) : a case study of a commune in south-west France

Asian hornet, Vespa velutina Lepeletier nests were discovered in 2007 in Andernos-les-Bains on the south-west coast of France, 3 years after the first reported sightings in France. The number of nests increased in the commune over the following 7 years, despite local authorities enacting a destruction policy. The nests existed in close proximity to one another leading to a high density of over 10 nests per square kilometre in urban areas. New information on the chosen habitat for nests is presented, and the differences between primary and secondary locations are evident, with primary nests mostly occupying buildings and man-made structures, while secondary nests were found on trees. Using Bayesian inference methods, we fit a basic model to the observational data, which allows us to estimate key demographic parameters. This model fit is highly informative for predicting V. velutina spread and colonisation of other at-risk regions, and suggests that local control has a limited impact on the spread of V. velutina once established within a region

Transitions in symbiosis: evidence for environmental acquisition and social transmission within a clade of heritable symbionts

A dynamic continuum exists from free-living environmental microbes to strict host-associated symbionts that are vertically inherited. However, knowledge of the forces that drive transitions in symbiotic lifestyle and transmission mode is lacking. Arsenophonus is a diverse clade of bacterial symbionts, comprising reproductive parasites to coevolving obligate mutualists, in which the predominant mode of transmission is vertical. We describe a symbiosis between a member of the genus Arsenophonus and the Western honey bee. The symbiont shares common genomic and predicted metabolic properties with the male-killing symbiont Arsenophonus nasoniae, however we present multiple lines of evidence that the bee Arsenophonus deviates from a heritable model of transmission. Field sampling uncovered spatial and seasonal dynamics in symbiont prevalence, and rapid infection loss events were observed in field colonies and laboratory individuals. Fluorescent in situ hybridisation showed Arsenophonus localised in the gut, and detection was rare in screens of early honey bee life stages. We directly show horizontal transmission of Arsenophonus between bees under varying social conditions. We conclude that honey bees acquire Arsenophonus through a combination of environmental exposure and social contacts. These findings uncover a key link in the Arsenophonus clades trajectory from free-living ancestral life to obligate mutualism, and provide a foundation for studying transitions in symbiotic lifestyle

Population genetic diversity and dynamics of the honey bee brood pathogen Melissococcus plutonius in a region with high prevalence.

European foulbrood (EFB) is a honey bee brood disease caused by the bacterium Melissococcus plutonius. Large-scale EFB outbreaks have been reported in several countries in recent decades, which entail costly sanitation measures of affected apiaries to restrict the spread of this contagious pathogen. To mitigate its impact, a better understanding of the population dynamics of the etiological agent is required. We here used multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) to infer the genetic diversity and geographical distribution of 160M. plutonius isolates collected from EFB symptomatic honey bee colonies seven years apart. Isolates belonged to three clonal complexes (CCs) known worldwide and to 12 sequence types (STs), of which five were novel. Phylogenetic and clustering analyses showed that some of these novel sequence types have likely evolved locally during a period of outbreak, but most disappeared again. We further screened the isolates for melissotoxin A (mtxA), a putative virulence gene. The prevalence of STs in which mtxA was frequent increased over time, suggesting that this gene promotes spread. Despite the increased frequency of this gene in the population, the total number of cases decreased, which could be due to stricter control measures implemented before the second sampling period. Our results provide a better understanding of M. plutonius population dynamics and help identify knowledge gaps that limit efficient control of this emerging disease.This research was funded by the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office grant number 1.12.15, the University of Lausanne and Agroscope. EGH was funded by a BBSRC CASE studentship in partnership with Bee Disease Insurance and the National Bee Unit. GEB was funded jointly by a grant from BBSRC, Defra, NERC, the Scottish Government and the Wellcome Trust, under the Insect Pollinator Initiative (BB/I000801/1)

Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Pesisir Pulau Untungjawa Dalam Upaya Meningkatkan Kesadaran Hukum Dan Kemandirian Nelayan

Kelurahan Pulau Untung Jawa merupakan salah satu dari enam kelurahan di wilayah kepulauan Seribu atau satu di antara tiga kelurahan di wilayah kecamatan Kepulauan Seribu Selatan. Penduduk Pulau Untung Jawa sebagian besar adalah masyarakat pribumi yang silsilahnya berasal dari Pulau Untung Jawa dan perpindahan masyarakat Pulau Ubi Besar tanggal 13 Februari 1954. Kelurahan Pulau Untung Jawa merupakan kawasan andalan Wisata Pemukiman yang mempunyai peranan penting dalam mewujudkan visi kabupaten yaitu: Sebagai Taman dan Ladang Kehidupan Bahari yang Berkelanjutan Penelitian ini menemukan model pemberdayaan yang tepat bagi masyarakat pesisir pulau UntungJawa dan menganalisis upaya peningkatan kesadaran hukum dan kemandirian nelayan Pulau UntungJawa. Penelitian ini termasuk dalam penelitian deskriptif kualitatif dengan pendekatan sosiologis, atau dalam penelitian hukum biasa disebut normatif terapan/normatif empiris. Model pemberdayaan yang bertujuan membangun kemandirian nelayan pulau UntungJawa dapat dilaksanakan dengan kerjasama dan partisipasi masyarakat. Perlu sinergitas antara peran pemerintah baik aparat kelurahan dan instansi terkait lainnya, LSM yang peduli atau pun Perusahaan, kampus maupun masyarakat nelayan itu sendiri. Terdapat faktor pendukung dan faktor penghambat yang harus diperhatikan dan dicarikan solusinya. Faktor pendukung antara lain sudah terbangun konsep kesadaran dalam melakukan segala macam kegiatan yang sesuai dengan hukum yang ada, potensi wisata dan produksi perikanan, aparat Kelurahan yang cukup aktif dan kesiapan SDM untuk memotivasi diri dan menerima pendampingan serta berbagai pelatihan. Adapun faktor penghambatnya antara lain: terbatasnya modal, faktor alam, sarana prasarana, kurangnya gairah wisata, daya minat beli dan daya minat permainan air, tidak adanya penghasillan rutin, honor pekerja yang kurang dari UMP, SDM, dan kurangnya kesadaran hukum, bantuan hukum dan perlindungan hukum