Oct 29

Breeding and CCD, the big IF.

Among the many interesting pieces of information the speakers talked about at the North Central Queen Assembly was a piece on the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus or IAPV for short.  Recently scientists claim to  have found a significant connection between IAPV and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).  It is still a great matter of debate if IAPV causes CCD, is a contributing factor, a symptom, or something else. 

However, Greg Hunt of Purdue University, who does research on the genetics of bees stated that they have found that some honey bees have incorporated some of the DNA from IAPV into their own DNA.  More interestingly, these bees that have part of the IAPV genes copied into their DNA seem immune to IAPV.  Thus, IF IAPV causes or is a major contributor to CCD, and IF someone with the money , time and the expertise to run a real breeding program, and IF someone contributes the funding to test the DNA of bees in a breeding program with all the fancy new and expensive machines, then it would be possible to breed a line of bees resistant to CCD.  And that’s assuming CCD is even a concern a year or month from now (another matter of considerable debate).   And that’s an awful lot of IFs.  We’ll have to wait to see how the first big IF turns out.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.honeyrunapiaries.com/blog/beekeeping/breeding-and-ccd-the-big-if/


  1. beeconcerned

    If you had alot of money to donate to an organization that is in the forefront and committed to unraveling the mystery of CCD and separating fact from hype and fiction and then educating people about it…who would that be?

  2. Tim Arheit

    I would donate to the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAAREC) http://maarec.cas.psu.edu
    It’s not just one university or lab, but a task force of 16 members with representation from universities, beekeeping organizations, the department of agriculture and the USDA/ARS (Beltsville Bee Lab) Their focus has been on the identification of alternatives to chemical controls and promotion of less reliance on chemical pesticides for mite control, and they are also heading the CCD working group.

    Donations can be sent to:
    Maryann Frazier
    Attn: CCD Working Group
    Dept. of Entomology
    Penn State University
    501 ASI Bldg.
    University Park, PA 16802

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