Team:Lethbridge HS/Introduction
Lethbridge High School iGEM
Eliminating Varoa Destructor
Overview
The top 100 food crops produced provide 90% of the world’s nutrition. 70% of these crops are pollinated by bees. A phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has decimated honeybee colonies across the world, halving the number of productive colonies worldwide. One of the main factors hypothesized to contribute to CCD is the mite and viral vector Varroa destructor. While feeding on the bee’s hemolymph, Varroa destructor expels RNA viruses into the bee crippling colony’s strength. Current commercial methods to eradicate Varroa have seen a gradual development of resistance in treated populations. Using synthetic biology, we plan to target Varroa more effectively by directly delivering the miticide, oxalic acid into Varroa and utilizing RNA interference to eliminate Varroa populations within commercial hives.
Our Solution
The top 100 food crops produced provide 90% of the world’s nutrition. 70% of these crops are pollinated by bees. A phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has decimated honeybee colonies across the world, halving the number of productive colonies worldwide. One of the main factors hypothesized to contribute to CCD is the mite and viral vector Varroa destructor. While feeding on the bee’s hemolymph, Varroa destructor expels RNA viruses into the bee crippling colony’s strength. Current commercial methods to eradicate Varroa have seen a gradual development of resistance in treated populations. Using synthetic biology, we plan to target Varroa more effectively by directly delivering the miticide, oxalic acid into Varroa and utilizing RNA interference to eliminate Varroa populations within commercial hives.
Aspects of our project
Project
Human Practices
Notebook
Safety
Software
Achievements
Team
Collaborations
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