HONEY BEES AND THE APICULTURE INDUSTRY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OVER $15 BILLION IN ANNUAL AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY, AND DELIVER INDISPENSABLE POLLINATION SERVICES BENEFITING OVER 90 DIFFERENT AGRICULTURAL CROPS. FOR OVER A DECADE, POLLINATORS HAVE BEEN UNDERGOING DECLINE, AND MANAGED HONEY BEES HAVE SUFFERED SIGNIFICANT INCREASES IN ANNUAL MORTALITY, A PROBLEM THAT MUST BE MITIGATED TO ENSURE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF FOOD PRODUCTION SYSTEMS. THE ECTOPARASITIC MITE, VARROA DESTRUCTOR, IN PARTICULAR, IS CONSIDERED THE CHIEF THREAT TO APICULTURE WORLDWIDE. ONE WAY TO IMPROVE HONEY BEE HEALTH IS BY BREEDING FOR TRAITS THAT CONFER RESISTANCE TO STRESSORS SUCH AS VARROA MITE. THE HONEY BEE GENOME SEQUENCE, COMBINED WITH NEW EFFICIENT TECHNOLOGIES FOR GENOTYPING, CAN BE USED TO DEVELOP DNA MARKERS FOR USE IN HONEY BEE BREEDING. OUR LONG-TERM GOAL IS TO TRANSLATE GENOMIC INFORMATION TO TOOLS THAT CAN BE USED IN SUSTAINING HONEY BEE HEALTH. THIS PROJECT WILL PRODUCE DNA MARKERS FOR VARROA RESISTANCETRAITS, AS WELL AS A HONEY BEE GENOMIC DATABASE, THAT WILL BE USED IN BREEDING PROGRAMS TO MITIGATE HONEY BEE COLONY MORTALITY.