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Extracts of Polypore Mushroom Mycelia Reduce Viruses in Honey Bees

Paul E. Stamets, Nicholas L. Naeger, Jay D. Evans

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Jennifer O. Han, Brandon K. Hopkins, Dawn Lopez, Henry M. Moershel, Regan Nally, David Sumerlin, Alex W. Taylor, Lori M. Carris, Walter S. Sheppard

2018 · Scientific Reports

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From the abstract

AbstractWaves of highly infectious viruses sweeping through global honey bee populations have contributed to recent declines in honey bee health. Bees have been observed foraging on mushroom mycelium, suggesting that they may be deriving medicinal or nutritional value from fungi. Fungi are known to produce a wide array of chemicals with antimicrobial activity, including compounds active against bacteria, other fungi, or viruses. We tested extracts from the mycelium of multiple polypore fungal species known to have antiviral properties. Extracts from amadou (Fomes) and reishi (Ganoderma) fungi reduced the levels of honey bee deformed wing virus (DWV) and Lake Sinai virus (LSV) in a dose-dependent manner. In field trials, colonies fed Ganoderma resinaceum extract exhibited a 79-fold reduction in DWV and a 45,000-fold reduction in LSV compared to control colonies. These findings indicate honey bees may gain health benefits from fungi and their antimicrobial compounds.

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4 selected excerpts · 4 total mentions

filoeleven
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https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32194-8 From the abstract: “Extracts from amadou (Fomes) and reishi (Ganoderma) fungi reduced the levels of honey bee deformed wing virus (DWV) and Lake Sinai virus (LSV) in a dose-dependent manner. In field trials, colonies fed Ganoderma resinaceum extract exhibited a 79-fold reduction in DWV and a 45,000-fold reduction in LSV compared to control colonies.” Stamets has tons of talks on YouTube, a lot of them have the same content in them and anything after 2016 might have the bee story in it. Looks like he plans to start selling these feeders this year, which is good news! https://fungi.com/pages/bees
Original comment Engineered symbionts activate honey bee immunity and limit pathogens
40four
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The article fails to mention an of the viruses that are carried by the Varroa mite. The problem in not only the mites physically attacking the bees, but the proliferation of a suite of viruses they carry. One that is particularly harmful is the 'Deformed wing virus' (DWV) [0]. Luckily there are some promising developments on this front. Research efforts led by Paul Stamets [1] have developed an extract derived from mushrooms that, when fed to the bee colonies, have been shown to drastically reduce DWV and Lake Sinai virus.[2] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deformed_wing_virus [1] https://fungi.com/pages/bees [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32194-8
Original comment Bees are essential to the almond industry, and billions are dying in the process
anythingnonidin
Neutral mention · rule
See also this Nature paper that Paul Stamets is an author on: Extracts of Polypore Mushroom Mycelia Reduce Viruses in Honey Bees > Waves of highly infectious viruses sweeping through global honey bee populations have contributed to recent declines in honey bee health. Bees have been observed foraging on mushroom mycelium, suggesting that they may be deriving medicinal or nutritional value from fungi. Fungi are known to produce a wide array of chemicals with antimicrobial activity, including compounds active against bacteria, other fungi, or viruses. We tested extracts from the mycelium of multiple polypore fungal species known to have antiviral properties. Extracts from…
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amadou (Fomes) and reishi (Ganoderma) fungi reduced the levels of honey bee deformed wing virus (DWV) and Lake Sinai virus (LSV) in a dose-dependent manner. In field trials, colonies fed Ganoderma resinaceum extract exhibited a 79-fold reduction in DWV and a 45,000-fold reduction in LSV compared to control colonies. These findings indicate honey bees may gain health benefits from fungi and their antimicrobial compounds. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32194-8
Original comment Minnesota Will Pay Residents to Grow Bee-Friendly Lawns

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