BeeViva: Beneficial Yeasts for Healthier Honeybees

Research Project, 2026 – 2031

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are indispensable to society as key pollinators in global agriculture. Unfortunately, they are increasingly threatened by climate change, peticides, monocultures in modern farming, and different pathogens, including mites, bacteria, and molds. To safeguard bees, we need deeper knowledge and innovative, sustainable strategies that can strengthen their health.
Honeybees interact with a wide variety of microorganisms, both harmful pathogens and beneficial microbes that support their resilience, nutrition, and well-being. Among the beneficial organisms, yeasts are a natural but often overlooked part of the honeybee ecosystem. They are found in nectar, on and within bees, and throughout the hive, where they may play a crucial role in larval development and overall colony health. The goal of this project
is to identify, characterize, and apply yeast species that can enhance honeybee health, either through probiotic effects that support bee physiology and immunity, or through biological control (biocontrol), where yeasts actively inhibit the growth of harmful pathogens.
In an ongoing project, we have created a unique collection of approximately 2,500 yeast strains isolated from
over 100 honey samples from all across Sweden. Our preliminary data suggests that the collection contains yeasts that effectively inhibit molds harmful to bees. In the proposed project, we will screen the collection against pathogens responsible for American foulbrood and chalkbrood, currently incurable threats to bee colonies, and
identify the most promising candidates. Through field studies and laboratory experiments, including larval rearing, we will investigate where these yeasts occur in the hive and how they contribute to bee health. Finally, we will identify and characterize the bioactive metabolites that either suppress pathogens or strengthen bee
resilience at the molecular and cellular levels.
The project consortium brings together researchers with expertise in microbiology, yeast biocontrol, and bee health, with access to well-equipped microbiology laboratories and beekeeping infrastructure. This enables a truly interdisciplinary and innovative approach to advancing knowledge of biocontrol yeasts and improving honeybee
health. In the long term, a successful yeast-based strategy to protect bees could strengthen the resilience and sustainability of global food systems, benefiting beekeepers, farmers, and society at large, both in Sweden and internationally.