According to an article at the PhysOrg.com entitled, "Bee scientists force killer mites to self destruct" "scientists at the Scotland Government’s National Bee Unit and Aberdeen University have worked out "how to ‘silence’ natural functions in the (Varraoa) mites’ gene — with the potential to make them self destruct. You may recall that he Varraoa mite has been linked to Colony Collapse disorder in bees."
"Dr. Alan Bowman from the University of Aberdeen said: “Introducing harmless genetic material encourages the mites’ own immune response to prevent their genes from expressing natural functions. This could make them self destruct."
“The beauty of this approach is that it is really specific and targets the mites without harming the bees or, indeed, any other animal.”
To read the article about this finding please click on the following link:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-bee-scientists-killer-mites-destruct.html
The full report concerning this research can be read at the following website:
http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/3/1/73
It is amazing how quickly this idea has been thought of in order to help the World's bee populations. Scientists are amazing! Let us hope that it works for the sake of the bees and all the crops that bees pollinate,. Here is a list of all the crops that bees have been found to pollinate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crop_plants_pollinated_by_bees
Source of image:http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/02034/gallery.html
