Team:METU Turkey

Taking a major role in pollination, bees are one of the most important organisms within an ecosystem. However their populations are in serious decline. Colony Collapse Disorder has been found as the most common cause of the disappearance of bees in large numbers. Some pathogens like parasitic fungi and a pesticide called imidacloprid are the leading reasons of CCD. In this study, our aim is to decrease the number of hives affected by CCD.

Our plan is to turn the mutualistic bacteria living in bees' guts into a shield mechanism to protect the bees against these factors. A protein CYP6G1 found in Drosophilia melanogaster has the ability to degrade imidacloprid into harmless substances. Moreover, coumaric acid strengthens the immune system of bees. The main objective of this study is the transformation of the genes coding for these two proteins to Bacillus subtilis, which mutualistically live in bees' guts.