Scientists Engineer Yeast To Create Honey Bee Superfood – Colonies Grew 15-Fold
Scientists Engineer Yeast To Create Honey Bee Superfood – Colonies Grew 15-Fold Bees feeding on a synthetic pollen substitute – credit, Caroline Wood, Oxford U news A study team from Oxford University has identified a fermentation method that creates the perfect balanced diet for honey bees who can’t get enough natural pollen. Synthetic pollen substitutes are often fed to bees as a dietary supplement to natural pollen, but until now it’s been difficult to replicate the blend of lipids, called sterols, found in pollen that they need to thrive. But with Oxford’s bees rearing 15-times more larvae, the scientists from England and Denmark are confident they’ve perfected this sterol recipe. While it would obviously be preferable for bees to get all their essential nutrients from wildflowers, declines in flowering native plants across Europe are making this harder and harder. At the same time, honey bees aren’t exactly native either, in fact they often crowd native, solitary bee species and other…
