New medicine could save dwindling bee population
September 30, 2013
From: Lund University
A Lund University research team has made an astounding discovery – bees have a battery of healthy bacteria in their honey stomach that protects them. Giving these lactic acid bacteria back to bees boosts their natural immune system, helping them fight off disease.
WATCH VIDEO STORY HERE
CCD, or Colony Collapse Disorder, is a mysterious mass death of honey bees that has wiped out 10 million beehives worldwide in the past six years. Around two-thirds of the global food supply depends on bee-pollinated crops. It is believed a combination of pesticides, parasites, poor nutrition, and the stress of large-scale pollination is weakening bees’ immune systems, making them susceptible to disease.
The Lund University-developed product, SymBeeotic, is a natural supplement containing lactic acid bacteria, and is given to bees as nutrition, ideally before and after their winter hibernation. “This is the only existing product that boosts bees’ natural immune system so they can fight multifactorial diseases”, says Dr Tobias Olofsson, who developed the product together with Dr Alejandra Vasquez.
It is currently common practice for example in the US to give bees antibiotics against bacterial diseases, in an attempt to prevent the disastrous decline of bees around the world. As resistance to antibiotics increases, the need to find alternatives is urgent. Lactic acid bacteria from bees could be one, and the research team has tested how the lactic acid bacteria in SymBeeotic influence the entire colony by producing bioactive substances that function as defence against bee pathogens.
SymBeeotic is a product of years of research, a journey that began for Tobias when he was a child. His grandfather was a beekeeper for 81 years, before he passed away at almost 99 years old earlier this year, actively keeping bees until he was 98.
PLEASE NOTE: To get more high-res video (b-roll and interviews), or a list of the published peer-reviewed articles, please contact Lund University’s International Media Office. The YouTube link can be used for news purposes.
Contact:
Dr Tobias Olofsson, Medical Microbiology, Lund University tobias.olofsson@med.lu.se +46 70 6837683
Dr Alejandra Vasquez, Medical Microbiology, Lund University Alejandra.vasquez@med.lu.se +46 46 173291
3 Comments Leave a Comment
1.
Jeff Brighton | February 19, 2015 at 6:16 pm
Impressive work, could be the key to improving bee health around the globe.
I came across several references to your presentation given in 2008 at the International Symposium on Honey & Human Health and wanted to obtain more information regarding your research findings that some honey varietals contain “large amounts of viable lactobacilli (6 species) and bifidobacteria (4 species)”
Is this research published? If so, where?
Thanks very much for your work with bees,
Jeff
2.
jim | February 23, 2015 at 1:29 pm
The 2012 study, “Symbionts as Major Modulators of Insect Health: Lactic Acid Bacteria and Honeybees” is available here, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0033188
The 2014 study, “Lactobacillus apinorum sp. nov.,
Lactobacillus mellifer sp. nov., Lactobacillus mellis
sp. nov., Lactobacillus melliventris sp. nov.,
Lactobacillus kimbladii sp. nov., Lactobacillus helsingborgensis sp. nov. and Lactobacillus kullabergensis sp. nov., isolated from the honey stomach of the honeybee Apis mellifera” is available here, http://ijs.sgmjournals.org/content/64/Pt_9/3109.full.pdf
3.
Editor | February 23, 2015 at 1:32 pm
The 2012 study, “Symbionts as Major Modulators of Insect Health: Lactic Acid Bacteria and Honeybees” is available here, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0033188
The 2014 study, “Lactobacillus apinorum sp. nov.,
Lactobacillus mellifer sp. nov., Lactobacillus mellis
sp. nov., Lactobacillus melliventris sp. nov.,
Lactobacillus kimbladii sp. nov., Lactobacillus helsingborgensis sp. nov. and Lactobacillus kullabergensis sp. nov., isolated from the honey stomach of the honeybee Apis mellifera” is available here, http://ijs.sgmjournals.org/content/64/Pt_9/3109.full.pdf.
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