Difference between revisions of "Team:Toulouse/Description"

Bees excel in pollination and thus play an essential role in maintaining ecosystems. By gathering pollen, they allow the reproduction of 84% of the plants that grow in Europe. Bees are also responsible for the production of 35% of edible fruits and vegetables. Without bees, tomatoes, apples, vines and many more would be as good as gone (see Figure 1 for some examples). Among all bees, the domestic bee, Apis mellifera, which builds its swarm in hives provided by man, is directly responsible for the production of honey, wax and propolis. Very often, the swarms are selected for their honey production yield.

Figure 1: Examples of products dependent of bee pollination to reproduce

According to the French INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique), the bee extinction would represent an economical worldwide loss of 163 billion USD. This huge number reflects the bees’ importance in the global ecosystem.

Varroa destructor is an obligatory ectoparasite of bees. This means it is an external parasite and it cannot survive without its host, the bee. The varroa development cycle takes place in the beehive cells in parallel of the bee development cycle. The key individual of the varroa development cycle is the adult female commonly named “founder”. The founder reproduces exclusively in a brood cell that represents the beehive cell containing a bee larva. The founder reproduction occurs during the phoretic phase where the varroa is moved from one bee colony to the other by an adult bee.

Figure 2: Synchronized life cycle of Honeybees and Varroa destructor.

The mite varroa is originally an ectoparasite of Apis cerana, the Asian honey bee. The first contact between varroa and Apis mellifera occurred in the 1950s in Asia. During the following years, the infestation spread to Europe, Africa and America. The first signs of this infestation were observed in Europe and North America in the early 1980s. The varroa mite is a particularly virulent parasite of Apis mellifera since the European honeybee did not have time to develop an adaptive response to it. In Asia on the contrary, Apis cerana and Varroa destructor co-evolved over the centuries and reached a certain balance. Interestingly, the Asian honeybee is capable of detecting the parasite’s presence and of getting rid of it.

Figure 3: Effects exerted by Varroa destructor on honeybee and their consequences.

♦ Search of tolerant or resistant bees through selection
♦ Use of “zoo-technic” or “bio-technic” means (Trapping of varroas in empty male broods or installation of fenced entries)
♦ Use of chemical treatments

This last type is the most effective however none of the treatments has a 100% effectiveness and their use is often limited since bees generate consumable products. The lack of effectiveness of those treatments (not to mention the resistance phenomena expected) induces the presence in hives of enough varroa after treatment to allow the population to grow beyond the dangerous threshold for a bee colony. The use of such treatments (usually annual) can eliminate up to 90% of the varroa population, which is insufficient to maintain the epidemic at safe levels.

On top of that, such treatments may have serious disadvantages:

♦ It has been shown that some miticide or degradation metabolites from these molecules accumulate in beeswax.
This long term accumulation could explain the emergence of resistant parasites.

♦ Some treatments were shown to have detrimental effects on bees.
Those effects are usually increased if the treatments are misused.

♦ Some treatments can contaminate the production of bees and impact on the quality of the products.

Our strategy is based on the alternate production of two molecules according to a circadian cycle, and thanks to a genetically modified Escherichia coli strain.
During the day, while bees are entering or exiting the beehive, butyrate is biosynthesized by our engineered bacteria, ApiColi, in order to attract the varroa which is fixed on bees.
By night, ApiColi produces formate, a well-known molecule lethal to the varroa attracted during the day.
Formic acid is currently used to fight varroa but at very high doses that also have an impact on bees.

Figure 1: Circadian rhythm switch strategy

In our project, the engineered bacteria ApiColi will be placed at the bottom of a trap, called TrApiColi, positioned at the entrance of the hive. Varroas will be attracted and killed there, leaving the bee colony less exposed to both chemicals, and particularly formic acid.

Furthermore, at the moment, beehives are only treated with formic acid during spring and fall, when no honey is being made. This is due to the fact that formic acid weakens bees but also that when varroa have entered the brood, they are not affected by it.
The attraction power of ApiColi will enable us to prevent most varroas from entering the beehive and reaching the brood. This way, our treatment would be useable even during the summer.