BEE-RER-3 is a research project of the University of Bologna funded by the Emilia Romagna Region. The full title is “Analysis of environmental honey DNA and of honey bee DNA to support the apiculture sector and monitor hive pathogens in the Emilia Romagna region (BEE-RER-3)".
BEE-RER-3 wants to face the problems of the beekeepers by applying genomics to the apiculture sector. The project is focused on the application of honey DNA analysis to obtain several information that could be useful to authenticate the honey, identify the Apis mellifera subspecies from this matrix and to identify pathogens.
The project also includes other activities and analyses: melissopalinology, biometric analyses of the honey bees, identification of honey contaminants, analysis of several pathogens and collection of metadata.