Research Article: Varroa destructor and sporadic global declines in domestic honeybee populations
May 22, 2014
Editor’s Note: The original research article, “Identification of developmentally-specific kinotypes and mechanisms of Varroa mite resistance through whole-organism, kinome analysis of honeybee,” by Albert J. Robertson, Breet Trost, et al, published in Frontiers in Genetics is available here. Below is an excerpt from the Abstract.
Recent investigations associate Varroa destructor (Mesostigmata: Varroidae) parasitism and its associated pathogens and agricultural pesticides with negative effects on colony health, resulting in sporadic global declines in domestic honeybee (Apis mellifera) populations. These events have motivated efforts to develop research tools that can offer insight into the causes of declining bee health as well as identify biomarkers to guide breeding programs. Here we report the development of a bee-specific peptide array for characterizing global cellular kinase activity in whole bee extracts. The arrays reveal distinct, developmentally-specific signaling profiles between bees with differential susceptibility to infestation by Varroa mites.
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