ENGINEERING BACTERIA TO COMBAT BEE PATHOGENS

Goal: Engineer bee larval symbiotic bacteria tocombat larval bee disease.Objective 1: Engineer the bee larval symbiont Bombella apisto be able to inhibit the growth of the causitive agent of American Foulbrood,Paenibacillus larvae, in a larval disease model. This objective will be achieved by engineering B. apisto secreteP.larvae-specific antimicrobial bacteriocins that have been identified through a bioinformatic pipeline.Objective 2:Engineer Bombella apisto kill bee larvae-associatedVarroa mites in a larval disease model. This objective will be achieved by engineering B. apisto secreteVarroa-specific dsRNA, using dsRNA constructs previously shown to killVarroamites in adult bees.