Method and system for protecting honey bees, bats and butterflies from neonicotinoid pesticides
View Patent ↗A method and system for the treatment of honey bees ( Apis mellifera ), bats, and butterflies protects them from various life threatening conditions, including Colony Collapse Disorder, white nose syndrome, etc. and in particular, provides honey bees, bats and butterflies with the ability to assimilate and degrade neonicotinoids.
1. A method for providing a honey bee with the ability to assimilate neonicotinoid pesticides, comprising, inoculating a honey bee with a culture of neonicotinoid degrading bacteria, wherein the neonicotinoid degrading bacteria include genes whose expression by the neonicotinoid degrading bacteria results in the degradation of the neonicotinoid acetamiprid, said genes comprising a SCL3-10 nitrile hydratase beta subunit gene, said neonicotinoid degrading bacteria being modified to include said genes using a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) CRISPR associated protein (Cas) system or using a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) from prevotella and francisella 1 (Cpf1) nuclease.
2. A method for providing a honey bee with the ability to assimilate neonicotinoid pesticides, comprising, inoculating a honey bee with a culture of neonicotinoid degrading bacteria, wherein the neonicotinoid degrading bacteria include genes whose expression by the neonicotinoid degrading bacteria results in the degradation of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid, said genes comprising a CYP353D1v2 gene, and said neonicotinoid degrading bacteria being modified to include said genes using a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) CRISPR associated protein (Cas) system.
3. A method for providing a honey bee with the ability to assimilate neonicotinoid pesticides, comprising, inoculating the gut of a honey bee with a culture of microbes that normally inhabit the honey bee gut, said microbes possessing the ability to degrade neonicotinoid pesticides, said microbes comprising neonicotinoid degrading bacteria that have genes selected from the group consisting of a CYP353D1v2 gene and a SCL3-10 nitrile hydratase beta subunit gene, and wherein the neonicotinoid degrading microbes have been modified using a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) from prevotella and francisella 1 (Cpf1) nuclease, such that the expression of said genes results in the degradation by said microbes of at least one neonicotinoid selected from the group of acetamiprid and imidacloprid.