A new study reported on Tuesday says the alarming rate at which honey bees are dying may be due to a rapidly mutating virus which began in tobacco plants and moved to soy plant to bees, the New York Times reported.
Since 2006, a third of commercial honeybees have died in commercials colonies each year, according to the Times. The new research shows the honeybee deaths start in Autumn and reach its highest levels in Winter.
Researchers found the deaths to be correlated with the infections by a type of tobacco ringspot virus, and suggests the virus as a reason for the colony collapse disorder in which bees die at twice the normal rate, the Times reported. The disorder was identified seven years ago.
Despite the findings, researchers, including the study's authors, believe numerous viruses and parasites contribute to the weakening of the honeybee colonies and are aiding in increasing the death rate, the Times reported.
The tobacco ringspot virus was found during a screening of bees and pollen for rare diseases, according to the Times. Researchers reported this is the first time a virus jumped from pollen to bees.
The tobacco ringspot virus is an RNA virus, meaning it is a single strand of genetic material which mutates at faster rates than others and is good at finding ways around the host's defense system, according to the Times.
The virus' rapid mutation aides RNA viruses to move from hosts faster than normal, allowing the tobacco ringspot virus to jump to bees like influenza jumped to humans from poultry, according to the Times.
While researchers monitored 10 different colonies kept at the Agriculture Department in Maryland, they found reason to believe the virus attacks the honeybees' nervous system, and also found bees infected with the virus rose to 22.5 percent from 7 percent last Spring, the Times reported.
The virus is found in the pollen that bees gather, later spreading as the bees mix saliva and nectar to make bee bread for larvae to eat; mites that feed on the bees may also aid in transmitting the virus, according to researcher, the Times reported.
If the colony is already weak, bees begin to die in late Autumn quicker than usual, an event that is already occurring at alarming rates, according to the Times. Stronger colonies able to survive Winter show no trace of the tobacco virus or the Israeli acute paralysis virus, which researchers also believe is aiding the colony collapse disorder.
Researchers have also found 20 different plant viruses in pollen after screening them and are now suggesting better monitoring of pollen as a "potentially significant source of host-jumping infections," the Times reported.
