You are what you eat - siRNAs may be transferred to the pollinators

[AmericasBeekeeper]

Host Generated siRNAs Attenuate Expression of Serine Protease Gene in Myzus persicae
Beneficial pollinators viz. Pieris rapae and Mamestra configurata occur on members of the family Brassicaceae while Apis mellifera on Asteraceae members along-with M. persicae. It is presumed that siRNAs may be transferred to the pollinators when they suck the plant sap. To examine any homology between the targeted MySP sequence to its orthologous counterparts in beneficial pollinators, serine protease gene sequences of pollinator insects Apis mellifera, (Accession no. NM_001011584), Tribolium castaneum (Accession no. NM_001170771), Mamestra configurata (Accession no. FJ205442), and Pieris rapae (Accession no. FJ882067) from GenBank were aligned using Clustal W program for generating a phylogenetic tree (Fig. 2).
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%...l.pone.0046343

[WLC]

"In Cluster 2, M. persicae and A. mellifera evolved from a common ancestor but diverged 56.05% between them."

So, they've tested transgenic Arabidopsis, expressing a host specific siRNA, against a serine protease, in the green peach aphid.

The siRNA shouldn't affect Honeybees.

"The MySP transcripts showed variable but significant reductions in the nymphs (inoculated and parthenogenetic progenies) across all the developmental stages when fed on SP-transgenic lines."

It seems to work.

[AmericasBeekeeper]

The point to beekeepers is not that siRNA affect bees, but it is the delivery method for all current RNAi research an production.