Scientists have developed a breakthrough “superfood” for honeybees by engineering yeast to produce the essential nutrients normally found in pollen. In controlled trials, colonies fed this specially designed diet produced up to 15 times more young, showing a dramatic boost in reproduction and overall health. As climate change and modern agriculture reduce the availability of natural pollen, this innovation could offer a practical way to support struggling bee populations.

Using CRISPR-Cas9, scientists engineered a yeast to produce the nutrient feed. Farmers could have it in two years.

  • [object Object]@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    Plenty of companies have been founded by former university researchers based on discoveries they’ve made while at said universities. Seems like nothing prevents those folks from patenting the newfound methods for themselves.

    Or, they will license the technology to a big manufacturer. Seeing as the University of Oxford is probably ill-equipped to produce industrial amounts of yeast.

    • despoticruin@lemmy.zipEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      You would be surprised, yeast vats and breweries have a ton of overlap, IE pretty cheap tanks and reasonably standard infrastructure. Most universities with a biology research wing are going to have a few bio-reactors, and while they may not be able to produce the feed itself industrially, they can easily breed starters to sell to places like breweries and companies that already produce yeast at massive scale.

        • despoticruin@lemmy.zipEnglish
          2·
          18 hours ago

          I mean, yeah. What did you think a bio-reactor was but a really fancy carboy?

          There is some nuance in amenities, but at the end of the day it is a temperature-controlled and sterile environment for microbial growth to take place.

          • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
            1·
            8 hours ago

            I use glass carboys bio-reactors, and also have a couple stainless steel cone bottom bio-reactors. The first, not so fancy; temperature control is accomplished by moving them to a room that has something approximating the apppropriate temp. The second has a tap near the bottom, and a hole for an airlock on top. I do have a couple heat belts, if I needed to raise temp, as they came cheap from a kombucha operation that was shutting down. Hmm, for that matter I do have that instipot for making natto or yogurt, it’s a bioreactor too, now. Come to think of it, so is this silly sphere in space we’re conversing upon. Cheers!