Team:UAlberta

Combatting Nosema infections in honeybees with an Antifungal Porphyrin-based Intervention System (APIS)

Team UAlberta’s project aims to solve an impending threat to Alberta’s apiculture industry.

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Honeybees are integral to modern-day life as they contribute economically through honey production and pollination of agricultural crops and they also help maintain biodiversity by pollinating native species. However, honeybees are susceptible to various pathogens which can compound and cause colony failure. Nosema ceranae is one such pathogen.

Nosema ceranae is a fungal parasite that can infect the midgut of Western honeybees (Apis mellifera). Nosema infections can cause higher rates of mortality and can contribute to the death of entire honeybee colonies. Issues with Nosema can be heightened in cold areas like Alberta, Canada as their detrimental effects are aggravated by cold climates.

The severity of Nosema and its impacts in Alberta have increased in the past year as the only treatment available for Nosema a fungicide called fumagillin has been discontinued. This has caused grave concern and panic in Alberta's apiculture industry and has created a demand for a solution. Team UAlberta discovered this issue after speaking with members of the beekeeping community who themselves expressed the need for a fumagillin alternative. Thus, the ultimate goal of Team UAlberta’s project is to develop a product that would address the absence of fumagillin.

The Big Picture

Building off of information collected from interviews with stakeholders and published literature, we developed APIS: an Antifungal Porphyrin-based Intervention System for treating Nosema infections in honeybees. APIS aims to use engineered Escherichia coli to overproduce molecules, called porphyrins, which has been shown to damage Nosema spores. As a result, APIS presents a potential replacement for traditional fungicides and can be used as a preventative measure and treatment for Nosema infections.