October 2020 FCBA Meeting - Esmaeil Amiri "Honey Bee Queen and Viruses"

Forsyth County Beekeepers Association October Meeting @ Online Zoom Meeting

Zoom Meeting:  6:00 pm

Speaker:  Dr. Esmaeil Amiri, UNCG

 Topic: "Honey Bee Queen and Viruses:  Transmission Routes and Infection Consequences"

The honey bee queen is the central hub of a colony to produce eggs and release pheromones to maintain social cohesion. Among many environmental stresses, viruses are a major concern to compromise the queen’s health and reproductive vigor. Over 30 viruses have been discovered from honey bees, which have evolved numerous strategies to infect queens either via vertical transmission from the queens’ parents or horizontally through the worker and drones with which she is in contact during development, while mating, and in the reproductive period in the colony. In his talk, Dr Amiri will discuss multiple transmission routes that viruses use to infect the queen and also the pathogenicity and direct impact of viruses on the queen’s phenotype.  Keeping our bees healthy and reducing virus transmission is important to all of us, so please join us to find out how!