The first report of the prevalence of Nosema ceranae in Bulgaria

Rositsa Shumkova; Ani Georgieva; Georgi Radoslavov; Daniela Sirakova; Gyulnas Dzhebir; Boyko Neov; Maria Bouga; Peter Hristov

doi:10.7717/peerj.4252

The first report of the prevalence of Nosema ceranae in Bulgaria

PeerJ. 2018 Jan 31:6:e4252. doi: 10.7717/peerj.4252. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Rositsa Shumkova¹, Ani Georgieva², Georgi Radoslavov^{3

4}, Daniela Sirakova³, Gyulnas Dzhebir⁴, Boyko Neov³, Maria Bouga⁵, Peter Hristov^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Agricultural and Stockbreeding Experimental Station, Agricultural Academy, Smolyan, Bulgaria.
² Department of Pathology, Institute of Experimental Morphology, Pathology and Morphology and Anthropology with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
³ Department of Animal Diversity and Resources, Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
⁴ Department of Structure and Function of Chromatin, Institute of Molecular Biology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
⁵ Laboratory of Agricultural Zoology and Entomology, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece.

Abstract

Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae are the two main microsporidian parasites causing nosematosis in the honey bee Apis mellifera. The aim of the present study is to investigate the presence of Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae in the area of Bulgaria. The 16S (SSU) rDNA gene region was chosen for analysis. A duplex PCR assay was performed on 108 honey bee samples from three different parts of the country (South, North and West Bulgaria). The results showed that the samples from the northern part of the country were with the highest prevalence (77.2%) for Nosema ceranae while those from the mountainous parts (the Rodopa Mountains, South Bulgaria) were with the lowest rate (13.9%). Infection with Nosema apis alone and co-infection N. apis/N. ceranae were not detected in any samples. These findings suggest that Nosema ceranae is the dominant species in the Bulgarian honey bee. It is not known when the introduction of Nosema ceranae in Bulgaria has occurred, but as in the rest of the world, this species has become the dominant one in Bulgarian Apis mellifera. In conclusion, this is the first report for molecular detection of Nosema infection of honey bee in Bulgaria. The results showed that N. ceranae is the main Nosema species in Bulgaria.

Keywords: Apis mellifera; Bulgaria; Nosemosis; PCR diagnosis.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Science Fund of the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, Sofia (grant number 06/10 17.12.2016). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.