Saving bees with superfoods: Engineered supplement boosts colony reproduction

Scientists invent ‘superfood’ they hope will save honeybees

Yeast strain offers complete diet that beekeepers cannot give without flower pollen, say Oxford experts

Artificial superfood for bees boosts colony reproduction

A dietary supplement made from engineered yeast could help honeybees thrive despite the declining availability of high-quality pollen in their environment

Saving bees with superfoods: Engineered supplement boosts colony reproduction

A new study led by the University of Oxford in collaboration with Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, University of Greenwich, and the Technical University of Denmark could provide a cost-effective and sustainable solution to help tackle the devastating decline in honeybees.

Feeding bees with engineered yeast combats colony decline

Nutritionally complete food for honeybees (Apis mellifera) has been generated by engineering yeast to produce rare but essential sterol molecules found in pollen. Honeybee colonies fed with the yeast-supplemented diet produced offspring for longer periods than did those fed sterol-deficient diets. This approach makes it possible to rear honeybees without pollen. Yeast genetically modified to produce sterol molecules found in pollen provides a nu…