PROBEEOTIC
CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES
Current innovations focusing on reversing the consequences of neonicotinoids on bees are either time-insufficient, not feasible, or don't effectively mitigate the effects of neonicotinoids in bees. There’s little research if targeting bees’ gut microbiome with a novel substance will degrade harmful insecticides.​
NEONICOTINOID
Neonicotinoids are a class of synthetic insecticides that rose to commercial use in the 1990s in response to pest resistance, crop production, and veterinary medicine. Accounting for over 17 percent of the global insecticide market, it is widely used for insecticidal seed treatments and coat seeds of most annual crops.
WESTERN
HONEY BEES
The western honey bee, Apis mellifera, is a keystone species and one of the primary pollinators used by beekeepers. Apis mellifera plays a vital role in the environment by supporting the growth of producers through pollination. These honey bees help create sustainable agriculture and thus are significant players in supporting our food supply.
CRISPR
TECHNOLOGY
CRISPR Cpf1 is a genome-editing tool that is being considered a substitute to CRISPR Cas-9. It utilizes an effector nuclease protein guided by a strand of RNA that creates staggered cuts in the desired strand. CRISPR Cpf1 has been extensively used for targeted genome editing in prokaryotes, such as bacteria, and already has high effectiveness in plants.