Cathie Leavitt on Nostr: Just finished the first Biology 101 journal club paper, "The honeybee microbiota and ...
Just finished the first Biology 101 journal club paper, "The honeybee microbiota and its impact on health and disease."
Dig in Ohmies!
https://gigaohmbiological.com/stuff
I detect the typical reductionist approaches and models that attempt to isolate and control elements of our irreducibly complex natural world, with little to show for it.
A few of the laboratory techniques used include:
"Perturbation of the normal microbiota using antibiotics or other stressors, followed by phenotype examination. For example, honeybees exposed to tetracycline or streptomycin exhibit perturbed gut communities and increased susceptibility to bacterial and fungal infections.
"Genetic engineering of bee gut strains to include visual markers or resistance genes.
"Mark–recapture experiments with hive bees that enable examination of survivorship under natural, field conditions; for
example, honeybees were exposed under laboratory conditions
to tetracycline96 or a Roundup formulation151, then returned to
their original hives to investigate recovery rates and microbiota
resilience."
None of these sound good, but that last one really raised the hackles on the back of my neck.
The words "poorly understood," "unknown," "further study needed" crop up often. For example:
"It is important to note that studies on microbiota effects on bee development and behaviour are challenged by the fact that larval development occurs under varying hive conditions, which have been shown to affect adult phenotypes. Moreover, we note that only some of these results have been replicated, so their generality among bee genotypes, microbiota strains and environmental conditions is not yet certain."
Dig in Ohmies!
https://gigaohmbiological.com/stuff
I detect the typical reductionist approaches and models that attempt to isolate and control elements of our irreducibly complex natural world, with little to show for it.
A few of the laboratory techniques used include:
"Perturbation of the normal microbiota using antibiotics or other stressors, followed by phenotype examination. For example, honeybees exposed to tetracycline or streptomycin exhibit perturbed gut communities and increased susceptibility to bacterial and fungal infections.
"Genetic engineering of bee gut strains to include visual markers or resistance genes.
"Mark–recapture experiments with hive bees that enable examination of survivorship under natural, field conditions; for
example, honeybees were exposed under laboratory conditions
to tetracycline96 or a Roundup formulation151, then returned to
their original hives to investigate recovery rates and microbiota
resilience."
None of these sound good, but that last one really raised the hackles on the back of my neck.
The words "poorly understood," "unknown," "further study needed" crop up often. For example:
"It is important to note that studies on microbiota effects on bee development and behaviour are challenged by the fact that larval development occurs under varying hive conditions, which have been shown to affect adult phenotypes. Moreover, we note that only some of these results have been replicated, so their generality among bee genotypes, microbiota strains and environmental conditions is not yet certain."