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The Bee Informed Partnership, Inc. will receive a $142,676 cooperative agreement award from the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service under the Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care federal grant program (CFDA 10.025). Through this funding, the Bee Informed Partnership will determine the composition, diversity, and recombination rates of deformed wing virus variants in honey bee and Varroa mite populations across U.S. commercial beekeeping operations from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2024. They will analyze existing RNA samples from bee colonies in geographically distributed operations to sequence virus variants and evaluate genetic, geographic, and health data. The key deliverables will be a report mapping the genetic structure and diversity of major deformed wing virus variants, a comparative analysis of variant distribution between bees and mites, and identification of recombinant strains and recombination rates. Results will also be presented at research conferences, published on the Bee Informed Partnership's website, and in a peer-reviewed journal article. This will establish an important baseline for monitoring spatial and temporal trends in virus variant dynamics impacting U.S. agriculture pollination and food production.

Purpose

The purpose of this award is to determine deformedwing virus variant composition, diversity, and recombination rates inhoney BEE and varroa populations across U.S. Commercial honey beeoperations. This will establish a baseline to which future monitoringefforts could be compared to track spatial and temporal trends in dwvvariant dynamics.2.

Activities

We will use existing archived honey beeand varroa RNA extractions generated from colonies in operations thatare geographically distributed across the major US commercial beekeepinghubs. Samples that tested positive for DWV prevalence duringpre-screening will be subjected to high throughput sequencing todetermine the frequency and abundance of DWV variants within both varroaand honey BEE populations. Genetic, geographic and colony health datawill be analyzed to evaluate DWV genetic structure and diversity andcalculate variant recombination rates.1. Deliverables and expected outcomes: the outcome of this work will BEA written report elucidating: 1) a map and table of the current geneticstructure and diversity of the major DWV variants occurring within uscommercial beekeeping operations; 2) a comparative analysis between dwvvariant distribution and diversity between varroa and honey beepopulations; and 3) the identification of recombinants, and the rate ofrecombination occurring between DWV strains, which could be highlyvirulent to honey bees. Project results will also be presented atresearch conferences, published as a blog on the BEE informedpartnership website, and a manuscript will be prepared for publicationin a peer-review journal (journal to be determined based upon projectresults).2. Intended beneficiary(IES): beekeepers, farmers who rely onpollination, researchers, U.S. Consumers.3. Subrecipient activities, if known or specified at the time of award: no subawards