A new study led by the University of Oxford could provide a cost-effective and sustainable solution to help tackle the devastating decline in honeybees.
A new study led by the University of Oxford could provide a cost-effective and sustainable solution to help tackle the devastating decline in honeybees. An engineered food supplement, designed to provide essential compounds found in plant pollen, was found to significantly enhance colony reproduction. The results have been published today in the journal Nature.
The Challenge: Addressing a Critical Nutrient Deficiency
Climate change and agricultural intensification have increasingly deprived honeybees of the floral diversity they need to thrive. Pollen, the major component of their diet, contains specific lipids called sterols necessary for their development. Increasingly, beekeepers are feeding artificial pollen substitutes to their bees due to insufficient natural pollen. However, these commercial supplements – made of protein flour, sugars, and oils – lack the right sterol compounds, making them nutritionally incomplete.
In the new study, carried out in collaboration with Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, University of Greenwich, and the Technical University of Denmark, the research team succeeded in engineering the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica to produce a precise mixture of six key sterols that bees need. This was then incorporated into diets fed to bee colonies during three-month feeding trials. These took place in enclosed glasshouses to ensure the bees only fed on the treatment diets.
Read More: University of Oxford
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