a transmissible RNA pathway in honeybees. SO WHAT? how that's gonna help my bees?
if there is something that I'm gonna emphasize in this channel over and over
is the fact that bee biology is the key to be a successful beekeeper
Welcome to Inside The Hive. TV the show that takes you into the world of bees
Dr. Eyal Maori and collaborators in Cambridge University a week ago just
released a scientific article that I believe have the potential to make us
beekeepers more successful and near future. As you probably know RNAs
are very important molecules they can play active roles within the cells
catalyzing enzymatic reactions, controlling gene expression, signaling
and much more other functions. We also know that RNAs can be transmitted
from one cell to another. However, what we didn't know is that at least in
honeybees RNAs can be transmitted from one individual to another
preserving their biological properties. And the reasons for that is the beauty
of this story. As a short background researchers in the past using
double-stranded RNA in the feeding of bees were able to demonstrate the
efficient of the RNA consumption to to fight a honeybee virus infection the
virus ink in this case was IAPV in that experiment the researchers were
able to show that the levels of the virus went down the honey production was
up and many other different beneficial effects. What was unexpected for these
researchers and they couldn't understand why that happened was that after four
months the beneficial effect is still in the colonies that was were treated with
the RNA however we know that in four months honeybee colonies replaced its
whole population so how a honeybee the never enter in contact with the RNA
before was able to preserve the beneficial effect of the treatment and
the explanation for this phenomena is what is this new article is all about
the main message in this new article is that honey bees are able to collect
environmental RNA, process them in the digestive system,
spread them systemically through the hemolymph using a protein-RNA complex that's
gonna end up being secreted in the jelly. Royal jelly and worker jelly of bees by
nurse bees. But the question is why why bees are transferring a whole set of
different RNAs to the future generations? the results suggested that
this might be a system in honeybees to faster adaptation in the environment
they are in. Dr. Maori found a full range of RNAs in the royal jelly and
worker jelly of bees. Viruses RNA, Bacterial RNA, Plant RNA, Fungi RNA,
regulatory RNAs, RNAs that we don't even know what the function is about. So
the idea here is that bees might be able to learn what need to be done metabolic
in the environment they are in, and transfer this set of RNA of this new
information about the environment to the future bees for for faster adaptation
if you're a beekeeper like my dad you're probably asking yourself so what
how does gonna help my bees? if these experiments are confirmed we might be
able in a new future to create specific diet with a specific set of RNAs for
different environments and that's very exciting. For example you know for a fact
that in a Bee yard you always have bees of the honey bees
colonies that perform much better than others that would be the
case that the bees that perform better already have the set of rnas that they
need for that specific environment? can we feed the weaker colonies with the some
part of the jelly the royal jelly and worker jelly from the stronger colony to
the weaker and they might recover and perform better in that environment
that's a possibility another possibility is overwinter can we
create the jelly, a food they have the specific set of
RNA for that environment, to perform better in their winter so avoiding
losses and saving bees and saving money all of these ideas are possibilities
that if this experiments are correct you're gonna be able to create a lot of
different tools. If you're a commercial beekeeper for example then you need to
travel your bees all around how cool would be if you know in advance that
what kind of set of RNA is you need to put in their diet to perform the best in
a blueberry crop situation or in an almond situation or whatever wherever
wherever place you're gonna put your bees if you know in advance what kind of
set of RNAs you need to put in the food for them to
perform better that's a huge huge advantage. Now I would like to hear from
you what would you do in your beekeeping operation with this kind of information
what kind of ideas can we bring to the table to create different kinds of tools
for using this knowledge I would like to hear your comments please leave your
comments in the comment below and I would love to to brainstorm with you
guys. Now just between us, a little secret I'm already performing some of those
experiments so if you want to follow this up please consider to subscribe I
encourage everyone to read this article even if you're not a scientist and don't
understand the technical terms that's why I'm here for I would love to answer
all your questions and try to address all your concerns and if I don't know
the answer I know a guy that might know the answer
Dr. Eyal Maori is a good collaborator of mine and I'm sure he is going to be happy
to answer questions for you guys too If you like this video show me some love
hit the like button below consider to subscribe
share with friends and family and that's it for now THANKS for watching and I see
you guys in the next video bye