Science - 31 January 2020

sciencemag.org SCIENCE

PHOTO: CYRIL RUOSO/MINDEN PICTURES

By Robert J. Paxton

T

he western honey bee (Apis mellifera)

brings tangible benefits to humans as

an important pollinator and insights

into social evolution as a model organ-

ism. Yet, despite close scientific scrutiny,

it is under global threat from a range of

stressors ( 1 ) that are unlikely to diminish with

global change. Chief among these are pests

and pathogens, remedies to which are either

ineffective, short-term, expensive, or imprac-

tical. On page 573 of this issue, Leonard et

al. ( 2 ) reveal a hidden microbiological key to

fight these pests and pathogens: genetically

modified honey bee gut bacteria tailored to

induce host RNA interference (RNAi)–based

defense ( 3 ) that is effective, long-term, poten-

tially cheap, and easy to apply. This important

approach may not only provide a solution to

many of the honey bee’s woes, it also offers

a new functional genomic toolkit with which

to dissect the molecular intricacies of honey

bees and their societies.

MICROBIAL ENGINEERING

A microbiome silver bullet for honey bees

PERSPECTIVES

A genetically engineered honey bee gut bacterium knocks down two major bee threats

INSIGHTS

504 31 JANUARY 2020 • VOL 367 ISSUE 6477

Published by AAAS