STTR Phase I: Investigation and Optimization of a Novel, Pheromone-based Tool for Measuring Honey bee Colony Pest and Disease Resistance

STTR 第一阶段：基于信息素的新型工具的研究和优化，用于测量蜂群病虫害抗性

• 批准号: 2111970
• 负责人: Kaira Wagoner
• 金额: $ 25.57万
• 依托单位: OPTERA LLP
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-15 至 2023-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2111970&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; Investigation; Optimization; Novel

The broader impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project includes the reduction of honey bee colony mortality by up to 75% through early identification and improved breeding of pest- and disease-resistant colonies. Honey bees are dying at unprecedented rates, with annual losses up to 45% in the United States. A primary cause of colony death is the parasitic mite Varroa. The unhealthy brood odor (UBO) assay is a pheromone-based tool that reduces labor costs required to measure Varroa-resistance by 18x, accelerating decision-making by 20%. The assay’s user-friendly design makes honey bee selection and queen evaluation more accessible to beekeepers, who are often restricted by the high technical skill and/or extensive labor required for existing assays. The UBO assay has potential to improve honey bee health and increase profitability of beekeeping operations, and thus may significantly improve global crop pollination and food security.The proposed project will assess the technical feasibility of using a honey bee pheromone-based assay to predict colony-level disease- and pest-resistance. This novel tool has the potential to improve honey bee health, revolutionize honey bee breeding, and inform important apiary management decisions, as it improves efficiency and efficacy of honey bee selection by enabling rapid and accurate identification of Varroa-resistant honey bee colonies. However, to be highly effective and achieve widespread uptake the technology must be practically and economically accessible, must perform consistently despite environmental variability, and must be established as a reliable indicator of heritable Varroa-resistance traits. The proposed research will employ sophisticated behavioral, biochemical, breeding, and manufacturing techniques to optimize prototype efficacy, safety, and delivery, reduce production costs, assess prototype performance across environmental variables, and provide a proof-of-concept for heritability of Varroa-resistance traits identified by colony response to the prototype assay. Expected results include improvements to the safety and efficiency of the product delivery system, improved understanding of the effects of environmental variability on product performance, and confirmation of the heritability of traits identified by honey bee behavioral response to in-hive tests of the product.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该小企业技术转让 (STTR) 第一阶段项目的更广泛影响包括通过早期识别和改进抗病虫害蜂群育种，将蜂群死亡率降低高达 75%。蜜蜂正在以前所未有的速度死亡。在美国，每年损失高达 45% 的蜂群死亡的主要原因是寄生螨瓦螨。不健康的巢臭 (UBO) 测定是一种基于信息素的工具，可减少测量所需的劳动力成本。瓦螨抗性提高了 18 倍，决策速度提高了 20%。该检测的用户友好型设计使养蜂人能够更轻松地进行蜜蜂选择和蜂王评估，而养蜂人通常受到现有检测所需的高技术技能和/或大量劳动力的限制。 UBO 测定有可能改善蜜蜂健康并提高养蜂作业的盈利能力，从而可能显着改善全球作物授粉和粮食安全。拟议项目将评估使用蜜蜂的技术可行性基于信息素测定来预测蜂群水平的抗病虫害能力，这种新颖的工具有潜力改善蜜蜂的健康，彻底改变蜜蜂育种，并为重要的养蜂场管理决策提供信息，因为它提高了蜜蜂选择的效率和功效。然而，为了高效并实现广泛采用，该技术必须切实可行且经济实惠，必须在环境变化的情况下始终如一地发挥作用，并且必须被确立为可靠的指标。拟议的研究将采用复杂的行为、生化、育种和制造技术来优化原型的功效、安全性和交付，降低生产成本，评估原型在环境变量中的性能，并提供概念验证。通过对原型测定的菌落反应确定的瓦螨抗性性状的遗传性预期结果改进包括产品输送系统的安全性和效率、更好地了解环境变化对产品性能的影响以及确认瓦螨的遗传性。蜜蜂对产品蜂巢内测试的行为反应所确定的特征。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。