HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF HONEY BEE VIRUSES ARE KNOWN TO COLLAPSE COLONIES, YET THE INFLUENCE OF COVERT INFECTIONS TO COLONY HEALTH AND FUNCTION REMAINS UNDERSTUDIED. OUR GROUP HAS AIMED TO IDENTIFY NOVEL INTERVENTION POINTS THAT CAN MITIGATE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF VIRUS INFECTIONS AND OUR WORK HAS IDENTIFIEDA FAMILY OF POTASSIUM ION CHANNELS, TERMED KATPCHANNELS, THAT MEDIATE SURVIVAL OF HONEY BEES DURING VIRUS INFECTION. THIS SUGGESTS KATPCHANNELS REPRESENT A PUTATIVE THERAPEUTIC TARGET FOR MITIGATION OF VIRUS INDUCED DAMAGES.INTERESTINGLY, OUR PRELIMINARY DATA INDICATE COVERT DEFORMED WING VIRUS (DWV) INFECTIONS INFECT BEE EYE TISSUE, IMPAIR BEE VISION, AND ALTER FORAGING BEHAVIOR. THIS RAISES THE INTRIGUING POSSIBILITY ALTERED FORAGING BEHAVIOR IS RESULTANT OF AN IMPAIRED VISUAL SENSORY SYSTEM AND MODULATION OF KATPCHANNELS MAY MITIGATE VIRUS-INDUCED CHANGES TO VISUALLY GUIDED BEHAVIOR. THEREFORE, THE GOAL OF THISPROPOSAL IS TO DEFINE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIRUS INFECTION, VISUALSENSORY SYSTEM FUNCTION, AND FORAGING BEHAVIOR OF HONEY BEES. WE WILL EMPLOY MOLECULAR, PHYSIOLOGICAL, AND ECOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO TEST IF DWV INFECTION: ALTERS FORAGING CHOICES AND HOMING ABILITY AT THE COLONY LEVEL (OBJ. 1), SHIFTS SENSITIVITY TO LIGHT AND COLOR SPECTRUMS (OBJ. 2), AND ALTERS TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION OF KEY VISUAL GENES (OBJ. 3).DATA GENERATED FROM THIS PROPOSAL WILL ESTABLISH THE FRAMEWORK NEEDED TO INITIATE A LARGE SCALE STUDY THAT AIMS TO DEFINE AND MITIGATE THE ANTAGONISTIC EFFECTS OF COVERT VIRUS INFECTIONS TO HONEY BEE BEHVAIOR AND HEALTH.