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Revision as of 05:52, 14 October 2018
Overview
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Silver Overview
From the first time you set foot outside the laboratory and leave scientific articles aside to interact with people related to your project, you begin to realize how crucial human practices are.
Human practices allowed us to investigate and validate the purpose, design, scope, and execution of our project. Is our product suitable for beekeepers to use? Will it disturb the innocuousness of honey? Is it capable of counteracting more diseases? Is it permissible before the law? These are some of the questions that were answered throughout our human practices chronology; we were driven to think, reflect, and act on it as our integrated human practices.
Beekeepers, beekeeping societies, international organisms, government representatives, and researchers were all essential for fortifying our research.
Beekeepers
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April 28th
Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua
Meeting with Mr. Guillermo Rodríguez
June 15th
Santiago de Querétaro City
Meeting with Engineer Alejandro Bianchi
September 22nd
Province of Melipilla
Videocall with Bryan Saavedra
May 26th
Delicias, Chihuahua
Meeting with Ing. Manuel Ramírez Salcido
June 27th
Chihuahua, Chihuahua
Meeting with MVZ Tanús Sánchez, MVZ Arroyo, and Ing. González Miranda
Beekeeping Societies
We had the great privilege of being able to get closer to complete and organized associations that show how beekeepers gather, collaborate and strengthen beekeeping. Dialogue is fundamental in a society and what a better way to join this dialogue than by discussing in these reunions, listening to the concerns or contributions expressed by the societies and building-up new group insights.
Specialists and Investigators
Our project considers particular parts as the immune system of the bee, as well as bigger picture aspects like how beekeepers provide the liquid food to their hives; the required panorama is vast, and we sought to make fit each small component of the project in the life of bees and beekeepers. Researchers who have been surrounded by the beekeeping world for years were the indicated to guide us in external aspects regarding the beekeepers' field of expertise.
Government Institutions
Thanks to regulations and laws that promote safety and well-being, it is possible for a project to be fully implemented. The rapprochement with governmental institutions focused on the primary sector allowed us to consider essential legal aspects for the development and execution of our project; It was thanks to these meetings that the legal plan was formed.
United Nations
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April 28th
Meeting with Mr. Guillermo Rodríguez
Viana and Ana Laura had the opportunity to travel to Cuauhtémoc, a city specialized in fruit growing; production and exportation of apples, peaches, strawberries, walnuts, among many others.1 Thanks to Viana, who is native from this city, we were able to get to contact this beekeeper. Mr. Rodríguez is the president of the association of beekeepers in the city and we saw an enormous opportunity in talking to him. This was our very first direct approach with the beekeeper’s community! We were very excited to start getting to know them. What would they think about our ideas? Would they be interested in our
project? How many things would they have to tell us? Our project was about to begin its transformation path.
This enriching talk lasted approximately 1 hour 15 minutes and different topics were discussed. We learned many general characteristics of bees' lives thanks to the great experience of the beekeeper: The different varieties of bees that exist, specific tasks of each type of bee and the joint work bees and beekeepers do to ensure pollination.
Regarding the existing methods against Foulbrood, Mr. Rodríguez mentioned how SAGARPA (National Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishing, and Food) does not allow the usage of chemical contaminants in beehives because wastes may end up in honey flows. Mr. Rodríguez mentioned how beekeepers sometimes use extracts of rosemary or oregano against Foulbrood, but it is always difficult for them to know what dose to add and ensure it is adequate for fighting the diseases and at the same time does not destabilize the hive. On another hand, he mentioned that the method of burning beehives results very expensive for them. Currently, in Cuauhtémoc, there is almost no presence of American Foulbrood, since, in the past, many sick hives were exposed to this burning method, then the disease decreased. On the other hand, European foulbrood is most commonly found in Cuauhtemoc.
The beekeeper emphasized how a natural product against Foulbrood is needed, so there are not left residues in the honey and he also highlighted how beekeeping varies around the world and sometimes there are specific necessities for each region.
Thanks to the sharing we made with the beekeeper of our project, he was able to have a new panorama of beekeeping, and how emerging technologies, in this case, synthetic biology, can accurately respond to specific problematics and can relegate past methods that imply many setbacks.
Mr. Rodríguez kindly invited us to present our project with the Cuauhtémoc beekeepers association and commented us about M.C. Alejandro Romo who has done different investigations on the diseases and who we would talk with later in this story.
Getting to know real experiences of the treatment methods used against our interest diseases helped us to better measure the severity of the problem and the obstacles with which beekeepers have to fight to keep their bees’ welfare.
References
- Soto, A. (2017). Cuauhtémoc, región en crecimiento económico. Retrieved from http://referente.mx/@Almer/cuauhtemoc-region-en-crecimiento-economico
- Image retrieved from: Visita Chihuahua. (2018). Chihuahua y sus alrededores. http://www.visita-chihuahua.com/index.php/2015-05-06-09-42-18
May 26th
Meeting with Ing. Manuel Ramírez Salcido
Key team members related to the development of the mathematical model, human practices, legal management, and wet lab traveled southeast from our city to visit Salcido apiaries in Delicias; a municipality that bases its economy fundamentally on the food industry. Since we arrived with Mr. Ramírez, it was amazing how the discussion flowed and flowed, getting a meeting that end-up lasting approximately 3 hours; all were valuable minutes that taught us many relevant aspects for the development of our project.
First, Mr. Ramírez covered the topic of the importance of bees, emphasizing how they have always been considered an essential factor for environmental health and he even showed us a funny cucumber that had not been correctly pollinated; it was very small and thin.
Bee diseases were our next topic. He commented how Foulbrood presence
isn’t that strong in Mexico, however, in Europe and in the USA, this is not the case. Mr. Ramírez took advantage and included implications of other frequent bee diseases like Nosema and Varroa in the conversation. He mentioned a very important point that we had previously started to notice: Most of the serious problems in bees caused by viruses or bacteria, are not correctly detected or even known. As Mr. Rodríguez had previously commented, Mr. Ramírez mentioned how different extracts of plants are used against diseases in bees, in this case, mint and grapefruit were the examples. On another hand it was mentioned how antibiotics are not an option at all for treatment, since the European Union does not accept them, neither does accept the presence of transgenics in the honey; there are rigorous studies exercised and if there is something wrong the EU may return an entire shipment of honey back to the remitter. We discussed the issue of innocuity of honey by highlighting that when there is a new product added to the hive, it should not generate any residue at all or change the expected properties from the consumer.
After talking about our project, a question arose in Mr. Ramírez, an issue that would be asked many times since that day and that we would do everything possible to solve and validate: Our product would actually pass from the food that the nurse bee ingest all through its system until reaching the larva by means of the royal jelly? And regarding the method of application, (initially consisting in applying the final product in the bee bread), Mr. Ramírez explained to us how this bee bread is created, and the fermentation process it goes through in the bee cell.
We also had the great opportunity of listening to some of the concerns Mr. Ramírez has as a beekeeper: He thinks the beekeeping area could be greatly impulsed by receiving more support from governmental institutions and he perceives that the validation of honey innocuousness here in Mexico results complicated as there are not enough tools to endorse the required diagnostics. On another hand, he mentioned how there are no young people able to continue with the job of the current farmers, and this is an alarming situation that requires a prompt resolution.
Mr. Ramírez gave us a lot of priceless information that was essential for the development of our whole project. He was the first to comment us about the beekeeping congress that would take place in the city of Delicias in the coming months, and which we would have the great privilege to attend, he told us that by means of the different sites where he frequently researches information he had noticed another iGEM team that was working with bees, for the month of September we could establish a collaboration with this team (consult collaborations for more information) and on this same point of the media, Mr. Ramírez explained to us how he always tried to receive literature to focus and inform himself, he mentioned the magazine “Bee Culture”, where we successfully managed to make a publication about our project and synthetic biology regarding beekeeping (consult public engagement for more information).
He also shared with us the contacts of highly recommended specialists with whom we could consult about our product and with which we would have contact later: Juan Diego Pérez de la Rosa, Efraín Rocha, Felipe Esquivel Díaz.
We were able to share a new perspective on beekeeping in relation to synthetic biology with Mr. Ramírez by explaining him our project, the beekeeper mentioned how he was more than willing to help us, and he even shared some honey and bee bread with us! This meeting was an invaluable experience for us!
Bee Bread
References
- Image retrieved from: Administración. (2018). ¡Conócenos! http://municipiodelicias.com/
June 15th
Meeting with Engineer Alejandro Bianchi
Engineer Alejandro Bianchi studied Agronomy at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education and has been dedicated to beekeeping since 30 years ago. Currently, he has a company called Kolmena Yothë that offers bee products for health and beauty purposes, his company also provides apitherapy treatments, complementing them with Bach flowers, Schuessler salts and homeopathy.
As we were speaking with him about our project, he mentioned the
importance of the Varroa mite, a parasite that sucks the hemolymph of bees, the equivalent to blood in this arthropods, weakening their immune system and making them susceptible to other diseases. He ensured that enhancing the natural defenses of bees would have a positive response since healthy bees are a lot less susceptible to diseases.
He mentioned the Varroa mite as part of the named “colony collapse disorder”, baptized by this name in the US, and described it to be a phenomenon where bees leave their beehives. Perhaps he announced foulbrood are not a current problem in his state, Varroa is, so he recommends us to expand our horizons to consider our product as a product that can also be applied when there is the presence of Varroa.
“If the bees are strong they can’t get sick, but how will they be strong if there are not enough flowers?” He mentioned urbanization is a problem bees are facing directly, and they are dying because of it. As flowering and bee population lower, he went from collecting a bucket of honey per box to a bucket every 40 boxes.
He said the actual treatments for American foulbrood are formic acid, oxalic acid, thymol (thyme), among others treatments that don’t
pollute the environment. Previously, fluvalinates were used to treat this diseases, however, they stopped using them since they are carcinogenic and pollute the environment. The Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (Spanish: SAGARPA) is the governmental institution responsible of inspecting their hives, it allows under certain requirements the use of antibiotics for treating foulbrood but has to avoid products that pollute the environment and honey. He also shared with us the treatment he uses to fight Varroa which consists in an essential oils mix and stressed it is important not to use the same treatment for a long time since the pathogen can develop a resistance towards it.
We asked him if he could share with us certain regulations or standards that had to be followed to ensure the honey’s quality, he mentioned the "Good livestock practices".Discussing other issues affecting beekeeping in his state, another serious problem in Queretaro is bee theft, as beekeepers visit their bees every 8 or 15 days, they are the target for many people that take advantage of this situation. Engineer Bianchi assists to the Beekeeper's society meetings, and he sees there are not young beekeepers to take the hard work of beekeeping, he sees that as another issue.
Finally, after approximately an hour of conversating, he shared us his book of memories from the 25th International Apicultural Update Congress which was held in Queretaro last year and invited us to visit his beehives as well as the facilities of his company.
July 16th
Valencian beekeeper interview
Thanks to our colleagues from Valencia_UPV, we received written feedback from a Valencian beekeeper and information about the current status of foulbrood in his province. Our Valencian colleagues interviewed the beekeeper for us, thank you Valencia_UPV team! (LINK collaborations) Given that our interest diseases have a global presence, it is essential for us to make contact with beekeepers from all around the world; knowing how they face illnesses, the used treatment methods, their effectiveness and consequences, and the beekeeper's concerns and opinions about our solution proposal in order to also
integrate them into the development of our project.
The interviewed beekeeper has spent approximately 70 years dedicating himself to the invaluable work of beekeeping and he shared with us some already experienced foulbrood implications that are lived in his province. In Valencia the treatment against foulbrood consist in the following:
First, the combs with the infected brood are replaced by healthy brood and then antibiotic with powdered sugar, is applied. The adult bees, when they realize the larvae are dead, clean the cell. The beekeeper ensures that with this treatment he has managed to heal all his hives, and has not suffered any loss from the disease, the drawback for this method is that it contaminates pollen, so it would no longer be suitable for human consumption, and when this treatment is not applied on time, beekeepers get to have very large losses of money and even the total loss of their hives (between 20 to 100 hives per beekeeper). Regarding this information, we could realize that antibiotics indeed are currently used and although they are effective in treating the disease, the innocuity of the honey is always altered resulting in market issues.
Once the beekeeper heard about our project and learned about biotechnological alternatives that seek to solve beekeeping problems, he considered it an adequate proposal which does not contaminate the bee products and he was expectant before the results of the project to evaluate if it is actually an effective method.
September 22nd
Videocall with Bryan Saavedra
Keeping on with our international validation on the presence of foulbrood, its implications, and our project insights, we were able to contact a Chilean beekeeper thanks to our colleagues from UChile (LINK collaborations). Bryan Saavedra dedicates to honey production, pollination, and queen bee breeding and exportation. He has dedicated more than a decade of his life to beekeeping and he counts with more than 1000 beehives.
“Approximately 13% of the Chilean working population is engaged in
agriculture, and agricultural products represent about 4% of the gross domestic product (GDP). The fruit sector is very important and includes crops such as grapes, melons, apples, and peaches.1”
After UChile team sent us the beekeeper’s contact we were able to get in touch with him and schedule a video-call. During the meeting, that lasted approximately 35 minutes, we were able to discuss the presence of bee diseases in Chile, its implications and some activities of Chilean agencies in charge of supporting the development of agriculture, forests, and livestock.
Foulbrood occur in Chile as foci of infection, once an infection is detected, which most likely originated from
contaminated equipment, the SAG (Agricultural and Livestock Service) proceeds to burn and then bury the infected hives; the decision of burning the beehives is quite drastic but it is the only effective way to take care of the rest of the Chilean apiculture. The last outbreak of foulbrood the beekeeper noticed about, was in last February; normally the infection comes from Argentina, which is where the disease most often occurs. In Chile, they mostly struggle with varroa and nosema and for purposes of the SAG and exportations, the varroa mite is treated with organic products, that result inefficient and expensive. Antibiotics are also used against Varroa, getting back to the resistance problem. Regarding this topic, the beekeeper wondered if our product would help against varroa, and we could tell him how one of the most important consequences of varroa is that the immune system is weakened; providing the bee with new immunity components (AMP’s) will greatly help it, so the answer is yes! Our product can help bees get fortified when they are suffering from varroa.
The beekeeper also shared with us the main routes through which the disease is transmitted from Argentina to Chile, how the bee's life duration varies depending on the production stage and also shared with us details about SAC normative.
Regarding the discussed topic on how bee’s longevity varies depending on different production stages, we explained the beekeeper another approach of our project: When the bee uses less energy in the production of antimicrobial peptides it is possible that its longevity increases.2
Bryan Saavedra did not know about synthetic biology and we gave him an approach to this area and how it had so many reaches, one of them being beekeeping. While explaining our project we absent-mindedly use a somewhat technical word that is usually complicated for the community in general. A peptide. The beekeeper, as in other times of the conversation, didn't hesitate to ask us and he attentively listened to us while we explained to him what we were referring to; he was always intrigued by our project.
References
- Economía de Chile: agricultura y pesca de Chile. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.voyagesphotosmanu.com/economia_chile.html
- Turcatto, A. P., Lourenço, A. P., & De Jong, D. (2017). Propolis consumption ramps up the immune response in honey bees infected with bacteria. Apidologie, 49(3), 287–296. doi:10.1007/s13592-017-0553-z
- Image retrieved from: Melipilla Chile: Ubicación, mapa y todo lo que desconoce. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://conociendochile.com/c-region-metropolitana-de-santiago/melipilla-chile/
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