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Author Topic: Killer Bees Going Gentle? From Science Daily  (Read 2892 times)

Online Ben Framed

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Killer Bees Going Gentle? From Science Daily
« on: October 14, 2018, 12:03:11 am »
Even more encouraging which supports the findings of years of research of the U of F  From Science Daily.  Credits are at the bottom You moght find this both interesting, informitive and hopeful!

Genomic study explores evolution of gentle 'killer bees' in Puerto Rico
Date:
November 16, 2017
Source:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Summary:
A study of Puerto Rico's Africanized honey bees -- which are more docile than other so-called 'killer bees' -- shows they retain most of the genetic traits of their African honey bee ancestors, but that a few regions of their DNA have become more like those of European honey bees. These changes likely contributed to the bees' rapid evolution toward gentleness in Puerto Rico, a change that occurred within 30 years, and could spell hope for beekeeping in North America.
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A genomic study of Puerto Rico's Africanized honey bees -- which are more docile than other so-called "killer bees" -- reveals that they retain most of the genetic traits of their African honey bee ancestors, but that a few regions of their DNA have become more like those of European honey bees. According to the researchers, these changes likely contributed to the bees' rapid evolution toward gentleness in Puerto Rico, a change that occurred within 30 years.

The findings, reported in the journal Nature Communications, could lead to advances that will bolster honey bee populations in the Americas, the researchers said.

Africanized bees are the offspring of African honey bees and their European counterparts. In the late 1950s, these aggressive "killer bees" escaped from an experimental breeding program in Brazil. That program had set out to produce a desirable mix of traits from the gentle European bees and their African counterparts, which were more aggressive, disease-resistant and adapted to a tropical climate.

Ironically, what scientists failed to do in the laboratory was eventually accomplished by happenstance. Africanized honey bees arrived in Puerto Rico (most likely on a ship, by accident) in the 1990s, and within three decades had evolved into the gentle, yet hardy, Africanized bees that dominate the island today. Biology professor Tugrul Giray, of the University of Puerto Rico, first reported on the gentle Puerto Rican bees in the journal Evolutionary Applications in 2012. Giray is a co-author of the new study.

To gain insight into how the bees became gentle, the researchers sequenced the genomes of 30 gentle Puerto Rican bees, 30 Africanized bees from Mexico and 30 European honey bees from central Illinois.

"The benefit of having these three populations is that you can compare and contrast between the three," said University of Illinois postdoctoral researcher Arian Avalos, who conducted the research with U. of I. entomology professor Gene Robinson; crop sciences professor Matthew Hudson; and Guojie Zhang and Hailin Pan, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "We asked, 'How is the genome of the gentle Africanized bee different than other Africanized populations? What parts of the genome are similar to European bees?'"

The team discovered that, for the most part, the genomes of the gentle bees resembled those of their Africanized forebears. Specific regions of the DNA, however, had shifted in the gentle bees, reflecting more of their European heritage. These regions appeared to be under "positive selection." This means that something in the bees' environment was favoring these genetic signatures over others.

The scientists hypothesize that the bees evolved to be more docile as a result of living on a very densely populated island from which they could not easily escape. Humans likely eradicated the most aggressive bees, aiding their more docile counterparts.

"Evolution involves changes in the frequency of gene variants across a population, and that's what we're seeing in Puerto Rico," said Robinson, who directs the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at Illinois. "Now we know that these gentle Africanized bees can be genetically distinguished both from other Africanized honey bees and from European honey bees."

The new findings offer a bit of hope for the beleaguered beekeeping industry, the researchers said. European honey bees tend to have less genetic diversity than Africanized bees, which carry both European and African honey bee genes. European honey bees also are more susceptible to a host of debilitating parasites and pathogens. Their rapid decline since 2005, a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder, is disrupting agriculture around the world.

"The fact that we've shown that the genetics of these Puerto Rican bees are very distinct from the European bees, and the fact that they are demonstrably gentle, makes it very interesting as a potential way to mitigate pollinator decline," Hudson said.

In particular, the Africanized bees are highly resistant to the varroa mite, a parasite of bees that undermines their health and spreads disease. The mites -- along with pesticides used to treat infested bees -- are believed to be major factors in the widespread decline of honey bees across the globe.

In previous research in the Giray laboratory, scientists showed that Puerto Rico's gentle Africanized bees groom themselves aggressively when infested with varroa, removing the mites almost as soon as they appear.

"Infestation of European honey bees with the mites elicits very little response," said Avalos, who previously worked with Giray in Puerto Rico. "This could be good news for beekeepers who want to develop a gentle honey bee that is also varroa-resistant."

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Original written by Diana Yates. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

Arian Avalos, Hailin Pan, Cai Li, Jenny P. Acevedo-Gonzalez, Gloria Rendon, Christopher J. Fields, Patrick J. Brown, Tugrul Giray, Gene E. Robinson, Matthew E. Hudson, Guojie Zhang. A soft selective sweep during rapid evolution of gentle behaviour in an Africanized honeybee. Nature Communications, 2017; 8 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01800-0
« Last Edit: July 13, 2022, 10:13:31 am by Ben Framed »
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Offline jtcmedic

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Re: Killer Bees Going Gentle? From Science Daily
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2018, 07:56:16 am »
Jim and I were talking about this yesterday at bee college.

Offline TheHoneyPump

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Killer Bees Going Gentle? From Science Daily
« Reply #2 on: October 15, 2018, 12:46:05 am »
-Gentle- is a matter of perspective from what ones normal experience viewpoint is.

We used to have a cat.  Nice gentle cat.  Yet everyone who visited said it was the craziest meanest snappiest tuffed of fur armed with claws and teeth that they had ever encountered.  Later they met my friends dog Radar the chihuahua that is a complete utter basket case .... the cat was not so bad anymore.
When the lid goes back on, the bees will spend the next 3 days undoing most of what the beekeeper just did to them.

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Re: Killer Bees Going Gentle? From Science Daily
« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2018, 08:27:52 am »
Phillip,
Good post. As JT mentioned we were talking about this and the professors at UF are talking about it and will probably be studying it soon.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
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Online Ben Framed

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Re: Killer Bees Going Gentle? From Science Daily
« Reply #4 on: October 15, 2018, 10:39:06 am »
Thanks JT, Honeypump, and Jim. I live in North Mississippi,The bees that I have are pretty gentle. I would say more like a bleep cat compaired to Africanized bees. I am not looking forward to the day that the Africanized bee makes its home  here, so, hopefully we will have similar results here in America as Puerto Rico is experiencing. Jim you was telling me earlier (a few months ago), that  Africanized bees hasn't yet crossed the interstate in your area. I can't remember which interstate that you mentioned, is this stilll the case? Wishing well for you and your fellow residents. If UF gets involved hopefully we can get facts soon about the AF progress in their domestication behavior. Y'all have a wonderful day !  Phillip
« Last Edit: October 06, 2023, 12:50:13 pm by Ben Framed »
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

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Re: Killer Bees Going Gentle? From Science Daily
« Reply #5 on: October 15, 2018, 12:22:49 pm »
Phillip,
The dividing line is I-4  corridor. They have not survived above that line. Occasionally they were brought north of it but they haven?t persisted above it since they arrived at it in 2008.
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
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Online Ben Framed

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Re: Killer Bees Going Gentle? From Science Daily
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2018, 02:07:04 pm »
Phillip,
The dividing line is I-4  corridor. They have not survived above that line. Occasionally they were brought north of it but they haven?t persisted above it since they arrived at it in 2008.

Does the researches understand or have a theory as to why they don't thrive above I-4?
« Last Edit: October 15, 2018, 10:07:43 pm by Ben Framed »
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

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Re: Killer Bees Going Gentle? From Science Daily
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2018, 11:16:03 pm »
Phillip,
No they don?t. They think it may have to do with the frost line but I?m pretty sure the western states that have Africanized bees have frost.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline texanbelchers

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Re: Killer Bees Going Gentle? From Science Daily
« Reply #8 on: October 16, 2018, 08:34:20 am »
There also seems to be a break at the TX/LA border.  JP never seems to show really nasty ones.   I always go in full suit, especially for removals, because you just don't know.  My apiary is relatively calm,  but sometimes they all seem to be riled up just walking in.

Online Ben Framed

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Re: Killer Bees Going Gentle? From Science Daily
« Reply #9 on: October 16, 2018, 09:16:54 am »
You are right texanbelchers, I have never seen or heard of JP or Schawee getting into Africanized bees. I did read the comments on one of JP's videos as he was ask about this and if I remember right , he said that he got into a couple rough ones and had them tested but the results came back negative. If this is wrong JP feel free to chime in.   
« Last Edit: October 06, 2023, 12:49:51 pm by Ben Framed »
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

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Re: Killer Bees Going Gentle? From Science Daily
« Reply #10 on: October 16, 2018, 02:26:13 pm »
Texas,
I bet if you checked when your bees were aggressive, you would probably find that you are in a dearth.
Bees get very defensive when there is no food coming in. The field bees have nothing to do and every thing coming near the hive is a possible robber.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline texanbelchers

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Re: Killer Bees Going Gentle? From Science Daily
« Reply #11 on: October 16, 2018, 02:51:36 pm »
Oh, that is entirely possible.  There are times when I wonder what they could possibly be getting.

Almost every hive I have is based on cutout mutts and some were quite nasty.  I don't do many removals anymore as it is easier and less time consuming to make bees/queens in the apiary.  I have been actively requeening and/or combining the more defensive hives.  At least half of them were "always" hot a year ago.  I have a couple more that will get requeened next spring as I continue expansion and quality improvement.

I did purchase 4 queens a couple years ago, but that process went poorly for various reasons.  I'll use my money otherwise.