EPA invites input on identifying new organisms which should be deregulated

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is seeking input on which new organisms should no longer hold regulatory status as “new” because they are effectively resident in New Zealand.

This deregulation process is conducted under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act, for species that arrived after 29 July 1998 and are now established in this country.

One example is the Varroa mite, which was first identified in Auckland in 2000 and then spread throughout New Zealand. Scientific research was limited by regulatory barriers, so the mite was deregulated in 2011 to help researchers develop pest management options.

When this process was last run in 2018, five organisms were deregulated including a ladybird (Harmonia axyridis), a bacterium (Komagataeibacter xylinus), and a virus (Listeria phage P100).

The EPA is now starting with a clean slate, and asking public sector organisations, Crown Research Institutes, academics, and the public to submit candidates for a new round of deregulation.

Proposing a candidate does not guarantee a change in its regulatory status. Organisms are assessed on a case-by-case basis and, once the Minister for the Environment has decided on a shortlist, further public consultation will take place.

“This process is about freeing up regulatory barriers, including making it easier for scientists wanting to conduct research on these organisms, and removing the unnecessary financial costs involved,” says the EPA’s General Manager of Hazardous Substances and New Organisms, Dr Chris Hill.

The EPA is responsible for evaluating and managing the risks of introducing new organisms into New Zealand, under the HSNO Act. All hazardous substances and new organisms must be approved before they can be imported or used in this country.

Submissions close at 5pm on 6 May.

Read more about the EPA’s call for candidates

Read about changing the status of a new organism

Source:  Environmental Protection Authority

Good news for bees? Varroa mites have genetic holes in their armour

Seemingly indestructible Varroa mites have decimated honeybee populations and are a primary cause of colony collapse disorder, or CCD.

Zachary Huang, an entomologist at Michigan State University, describes the mite is the greatest threat to honeybee health worldwide,

“They have developed resistance to many pesticides, so it’s urgent that we explore and target these genes to develop better control methods.”

A promising development is the discovery by MSU scientists of genetic holes in the pests’ armour that could potentially reduce or eliminate the marauding invaders.

The team’s results, published in the current issue of Insect Science, have identified four genes critical for survival and two that directly affect reproduction.

The mite sucks the blood of honeybees and transmits deadly viruses. Its lifecycle consists of two phases: one where they feed on adult bees (the phoretic phase) and a reproductive phase that takes place within a sealed honeycomb cell, where the mites lay eggs on a developing bee larva.

The double-whammy of eating bees and spreading disease makes Varroa mites the number-one suspect of honeybee population declines worldwide.

Controlling such pests depends on either eliminating them or reducing their ability to reproduce. The MSU team used RNA interference to identify the key genes, which could achieve these outcomes. They injected the mites with double-stranded RNA, or dsRNA.

Interfering reduces transcription of a specific gene, the first step of making a gene, a piece of DNA, into a protein. This process, also known as “gene knockdown,” has been successful in reducing the mating success and the number of eggs produced by cattle ticks, which threaten cows and other livestock around the world.

Using this approach, the team identified two genes that caused high mortality in Varroa mites — Da and Pros26S. In fact, Da killed more than 96 percent of mites. They also identified four genes — RpL8, RpL11, RpP0 and RpS13 — that control reproduction.

Earlier research has shown that a combination of dsRNAs can be fed to bees at the colony level. Varroa mites absorb the “genetic cocktail” via bee blood and their population was reduced. Future research will explore whether a single-gene approach can be scaled up and achieve the same effect at a colony-wide setting. Using a single gene with a known mechanism will be more cost effective and safe to the honeybees.

The results may have applications beyond honeybees, too.

“It’s worth noting that Da reduced reproduction in species of mosquitoes and Drosophila,” Huang said.

Future research could help not only protect honeybees, but also reduce disease-carrying mosquitoes or crop-damaging pests, he said.

Uncovering the drivers of honey bee colony declines and losses

EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit organisation that focuses on local conservation and global health issues, has announced the results of research conducted on honey bee colony declines and the factors attributed to honey bee losses.

In a paper published this week in the journal EcoHealth, scientists at EcoHealth Alliance investigated the causes of long-term declines of colony numbers and annual colony losses.

The work shows that socioeconomic and political pressures on honey production over the past few decades has caused a long-term reduction in the number of colonies in production in the USA, Europe and many other countries.

More recently honey bee managers have reported increased losses in their stocks each year (so-called ‘annual colony losses’). EcoHealth Alliance’s research shows that pests, pathogens and management issues likely play a major role in this, and are under researched and poorly understood drivers.