Project description DEENESFRITPL Understanding host-parasite interactions The Alpis mellifera or honeybee is of great economic and ecological importance, providing highly valued pollination services for a wide variety of crops. The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor is one of the most devastating pests of the honeybee and the main cause of its mortality worldwide. Bees' survival is highly dependent on mite control treatment which removes the need to have a stable host-parasite relationship and therefore obstructs the evolution of resistance. As a result, research on the natural selection host-parasite coevolution can be carried out on a few small honeybee populations. The EU-funded BEE NATURAL project has access to these populations and aims to describe their host resistant and tolerant phenotypes towards both mites and viruses. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective The ectoparasitic mite, Varroa destructor, vectors lethal honeybee viruses, in particular Deformed wing virus (DWV) and is unarguably the leading cause of honeybee (Apis mellifera) colony mortality world-wide causing critical economic and ecological consequences for pollination-dependent crop production and wild plant biodiversity, respectively. Since the introduction of the mite in the 1970s and 1980s, wild honeybees in Europe and North America have been nearly completely eradicated and managed honeybees only survive through mite control treatment, or otherwise die within 1-2 years. These treatments remove the selective pressure necessary to establish a stable host-parasite relationship, which hampers the evolution of resistance and obstructs fundamental research on natural selection host‒parasite coevolution in this new host‒parasite system, which is now only possible in a few small honeybee populations surviving long-term (>20 years) without varroa control in Sweden, France and Norway. These rare and valuable naturally selected populations offer unique insight into the natural adaptive capacity of honeybees, yet little is understood about their mechanisms of resistance or tolerance to varroa mites and the viruses they vector.Having exclusive access to these populations, the BEE NATURAL project sets out to comprehensively describe their host resistant and tolerant phenotypes towards both mites and viruses, using a variety of innovative experimental designs, in order to deeper our fundamental understanding of host-parasite interactions. Genomic regions or target genes associated with resistant and tolerant traits will be identified using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies such as RNA-seq and whole genome sequencing (WGS), providing valuable information that can be applied towards developing marker-assisted selection: a powerful new approach for disease resistant breeding that can facilitate major advances in genetic stock improvement. Fields of science social sciencessociologydemographymortalitynatural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologyvirologynatural sciencesbiological sciencesevolutionary biologynatural sciencesbiological scienceszoologyentomologyapidologynatural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsgenomes Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2020-STG - ERC STARTING GRANTS Call for proposal ERC-2020-STG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-STG - Starting Grant Host institution SVERIGES LANTBRUKSUNIVERSITET Net EU contribution € 1 499 703,00 Address ALMAS ALLE 8 750 07 Uppsala Sweden See on map Region Östra Sverige Östra Mellansverige Uppsala län Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 499 703,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all SVERIGES LANTBRUKSUNIVERSITET Sweden Net EU contribution € 1 499 703,00 Address ALMAS ALLE 8 750 07 Uppsala See on map Region Östra Sverige Östra Mellansverige Uppsala län Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 499 703,00