Harvesting Sugar From Nonflowering Plants: Implications of a Marked Sugar Bait on Honey Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Whole Hive Health

Honey bees are not attracted to multiple new ant bait matrices containing sugar

Multiple new ant treatment products containing high volumes of sugar have recently been developed specifically for use in ant management programs. The presence of sugar in these products could potentially attract bees, and any such attractancy would likely be fatal given that these products typically contain general insecticides. To determine the risk of such products to bees I present four studies assessing bee attractancy to multiple matrices that are used to make these products. The trials were conducted across multiple years, seasons, and locations, containing various concentrations of sugar in multiple forms, using various experimental setups with many different bee hives, and multiple observers. Not a single bee was attracted to any matrix, nor were bees observed inspecting any matrix, and no bees fed on any matrix, irrespective of whether the matrices were placed close to hives and directly under bee flight paths, or out in areas where bees were feeding. This is in stark contrast to large numbers of bees that were feeding on flowers within the immediate vicinity of all of the matrices in the first two experiments, or flying over the arrays in experiments 3 and 4 travelling to and from other food sources. I present five suggestions for the discrepancy between the trials presented here and the general perception that bees are attracted to sugar. These matrices appear to be acceptable as a basis to make treatment products for broadscale use within ant management programs. However, it should be recognized that bees, and other non-target species, are indeed capable of feeding on these matrices. Therefore vigilance should still be maintained to identify special circumstances where bees may be killed when constituents are added to these matrices that do attract bees, or usage methods can adversely affect bees.

Coupled small molecules target RNA interference and JAK/STAT signaling to reduce Zika virus infection in Aedes aegypti

The recent global Zika epidemics have revealed the significant threat that mosquito-borne viruses pose. There are currently no effective vaccines or prophylactics to prevent Zika virus (ZIKV) infection. Limiting exposure to infected mosquitoes is the best way to reduce disease incidence. Recent studies have focused on targeting mosquito reproduction and immune responses to reduce transmission. Previous work has evaluated the effect of insulin signaling on antiviral JAK/STAT and RNAi in vector mosquitoes. Specifically, insulin-fed mosquitoes resulted in reduced virus replication in an RNAi-independent, ERK-mediated JAK/STAT-dependent mechanism. In this work, we demonstrate that targeting insulin signaling through the repurposing of small molecule drugs results in the activation of both RNAi and JAK/STAT antiviral pathways. ZIKV-infected Aedes aegypti were fed blood containing demethylasterriquinone B1 (DMAQ-B1), a potent insulin mimetic, in combination with AKT inhibitor VIII. Activation of this coordinated response additively reduced ZIKV levels in Aedes aegypti. This effect included a quantitatively greater reduction in salivary gland ZIKV levels up to 11 d post-bloodmeal ingestion, relative to single pathway activation. Together, our study indicates the potential for field delivery of these small molecules to substantially reduce virus transmission from mosquito to human. As infections like Zika virus are becoming more burdensome and prevalent, understanding how to control this family of viruses in the insect vector is an important issue in public health.