Beesource: CRISPR and the fight against varroa…a silver bullet?
January 19, 2017
From: Beesource
By: awebber96
So I am no biologist, just a beekeeper, but I have been reading about the (relatively) new gene editing technology known as CRISPR. It seems that we may be on the verge of a genetics revolution that we’re just starting to understand.
Below is a link that discusses current plans to use CRISPR to eliminate Lyme disease on Nantucket Island. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/08/s…nantucket.html
It occurs to me that this could be the silver bullet that might also be the answer to varroa.
I am interested in other’s thoughts as to the wisdom (or lack there of) or editing the genes of varroa or Apis mellifera to tip the scales of the battle. It no longer appears to be a question of whether we could do this, rather the question now appears to be whether we should and how. I think the question of whether we mess with nature is much less an issue since varroa are an invasive species both to North America and honeybees themselves. In other words, one could argue, we would just be restoring the “natural order.”
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