One of the biggest threats to British honeybees could be eradicated thanks to a personalised pesticide being developed by scientists.
The varroa mite, which has been in the UK since 1992, can severely weaken bees by feeding on their blood, transmitting viruses and decreasing their fertility.
Over time they can reduce honey yield and cause significant financial losses.
Many keepers use chemical treatments to try and control the pest – but this can still have negative effects on the bees, their larva and delicate hive.
Now, experts at the University of Tennessee have developed a new technique – an ‘RNA pesticide’ – that is able to single out particular species without damaging others.
RNA is a type of genetic material present in all living things which translates the instructions contained in genes into useful proteins.
The pesticide works by interrupting this process, preventing the signal from a specific gene getting through.
By targeting an important gene that an animal needs to survive, experts can control the species without causing wider damage to others.
The varroa mite (pictured), which has been in the UK since 1992, can severely weaken bees by feeding on their blood, decreasing their fertility, which can in turn lower honey yield
Experts have now developed a new ‘RNA pesticide’ which is able to single out particular species without damaging others (file photo)
A pesticide to help honeybees developed by Greenlight Biosciences is now being considered for approval (file photo)
‘This pesticide has the potential to be the most specific pesticide we know,’ Professor Juan Luis Jurat-Fuentes told journalists at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference in Boston.
The first commercially-available pesticide based on the technique has just entered the market, used to help control the Colorado potato beetle through a spray.
A pesticide to help honeybees, being developed by GreenLight Biosciences, is now being considered for approval.
But instead of spraying the mites directly, adult bees can be recruited to help pass it on.
‘It is administered in pouches with a sugar fluid to worker bees,’ Professor Jurat-Fuentes said. ‘The bees take up the sugar, they carry it to the larvae, it passes to the blood.
‘When the mites feed on their blood…it targets one of the mite genes.’
