Abstract:
In recent years, managed honey bee colonies have been suffering from an increasing number of biotic and abiotic stressors, resulting in numerous losses of colonies worldwide. A pan-European study, EPILOBEE, estimated the colony loss in Belgium to be 32.4% in 2012 and 14.8% in 2013. In the current study, absolute viral loads of four known honey bee viruses (DWV-A, DWV-B, AmFV, and BMLV) and three novel putative honey bee viruses (Apis orthomyxovirus 1, apthili virus, and apparli virus) were determined in 300 Flemish honey bee samples, and associations with winter survival were determined. This revealed that, in addition to the known influence of DWV-A and DWV-B on colony health, one of the newly described viruses (apthili virus) shows a strong yearly difference and is also associated with winter survival. Furthermore, all scrutinized viruses revealed significant spatial clustering patterns, implying that despite the limited surface area of Flanders, local virus transmission is paramount. The vast majority of samples were positive for at least one of the seven investigated viruses, and up to 20% of samples were positive for at least one of the three novel viruses. One of those three, Apis orthomyxovirus 1, was shown to be a genuine honey bee-infecting virus, able to infect all developmental stages of the honey bee, as well as the Varroa destructor mite. These results shed light on the most prevalent viruses in Belgium and their roles in the winter survival of honey bee colonies.
OBJECTIVE: The western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is a highly effective pollinator of flowering plants, including many crops, which gives honey bees an outstanding importance both ecologically and economically. Alarmingly high annual loss rates of managed honey bee colonies are a growing concern for beekeepers and scientists and have prompted a significant research effort toward bee health. Several detrimental factors have been identified, such as varroa mite infestation and disease from various bacterial and viral agents, but annual differences are often not elucidated. In this study, we utilize the viral metagenomic survey of the EPILOBEE project, a European research program for bee health, to elaborate on the most abundant bee viruses of Flanders. We complement the existing metagenomic data with absolute viral loads and their spatial and temporal distributions. Furthermore, we identify Apis orthomyxovirus 1 as a potentially emerging pathogen, as we find evidence for its active replication honey bees.
摘要:
近年来,受管理的蜜蜂群体一直在遭受越来越多的生物和非生物胁迫,造成了全世界众多殖民地的损失。一项泛欧洲研究,埃皮洛比,估计2012年比利时的殖民地损失为32.4%,2013年为14.8%。在目前的研究中,四种已知蜜蜂病毒的绝对病毒载量(DWV-A,DWV-B,AmFV,和BMLV)和三种新的推定蜜蜂病毒(Apis正粘病毒1,Apthili病毒,和apparli病毒)在300个佛兰德蜜蜂样本中测定,并确定了与冬季生存的关联。这表明,除了已知的DWV-A和DWV-B对菌落健康的影响,其中一种新描述的病毒(apthili病毒)显示出很大的年度差异,并且与冬季生存有关。此外,所有仔细检查的病毒都显示出显著的空间聚类模式,这意味着尽管佛兰德斯的表面积有限,本地病毒传播至关重要。绝大多数样本对七种被调查病毒中的至少一种呈阳性,高达20%的样本对三种新病毒中的至少一种呈阳性。这三个中的一个,Apis正粘病毒1,被证明是一种真正的蜜蜂感染病毒,能够感染蜜蜂的所有发育阶段,以及Varroa析构函数螨.这些结果揭示了比利时最普遍的病毒及其在蜜蜂殖民地冬季生存中的作用。
目的:西方蜜蜂(Apismellifera)是开花植物的高效传粉者,包括许多农作物,这使得蜜蜂在生态和经济上都具有突出的重要性。养蜂人和科学家越来越关注管理的蜜蜂群落的年损失率惊人地高,并促使人们对蜜蜂健康进行了重大研究。已经确定了几个有害因素,例如瓦螨感染和各种细菌和病毒病原体的疾病,但每年的差异往往无法阐明。在这项研究中,我们利用EPILOBEE项目的病毒宏基因组调查,欧洲蜜蜂健康研究计划,详细阐述佛兰德斯最丰富的蜜蜂病毒。我们用绝对病毒载量及其时空分布来补充现有的宏基因组数据。此外,我们确定Apis正粘病毒1为潜在的新兴病原体,当我们找到蜜蜂活跃复制的证据时。