Evidence of Apis cerana Sacbrood virus Infection in Apis mellifera

Hong-Ri Gong; Xiu-Xian Chen; Yan Ping Chen; Fu-Liang Hu; Jiang-Lin Zhang; Zhe-Guang Lin; Ji-Wei Yu; Huo-Qing Zheng

doi:10.1128/AEM.03292-15

Evidence of Apis cerana Sacbrood virus Infection in Apis mellifera

Appl Environ Microbiol. 2016 Apr 4;82(8):2256-62. doi: 10.1128/AEM.03292-15. Print 2016 Apr.

Authors

Hong-Ri Gong¹, Xiu-Xian Chen¹, Yan Ping Chen², Fu-Liang Hu¹, Jiang-Lin Zhang¹, Zhe-Guang Lin¹, Ji-Wei Yu¹, Huo-Qing Zheng³

Affiliations

¹ College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
² USDA-ARS, Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, USA.
³ College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China hqzheng@zju.edu.cn.

Abstract

Sacbrood virus(SBV) is one of the most destructive viruses in the Asian honeybee Apis cerana but is much less destructive in Apis mellifera In previous studies, SBV isolates infecting A. cerana(AcSBV) and SBV isolates infecting A. mellifera(AmSBV) were identified as different serotypes, suggesting a species barrier in SBV infection. In order to investigate this species isolation, we examined the presence of SBV infection in 318A. mellifera colonies and 64A. cerana colonies, and we identified the genotypes of SBV isolates. We also performed artificial infection experiments under both laboratory and field conditions. The results showed that 38A. mellifera colonies and 37A. cerana colonies were positive for SBV infection. Phylogenetic analysis based on RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene sequences indicated that A. cerana isolates and most A. mellifera isolates formed two distinct clades but two strains isolated fromA. mellifera were clustered with theA. cerana isolates. In the artificial-infection experiments, AcSBV negative-strand RNA could be detected in both adult bees and larvae ofA. mellifera, although there were no obvious signs of the disease, demonstrating the replication of AcSBV inA. mellifera Our results suggest that AcSBV is able to infectA. melliferacolonies with low prevalence (0.63% in this study) and pathogenicity. This work will help explain the different susceptibilities ofA. cerana and A. melliferato sacbrood disease and is potentially useful for guiding beekeeping practices.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Bees / virology*
Cluster Analysis
Genotype*
Phylogeny
RNA Viruses / classification*
RNA Viruses / genetics
RNA Viruses / isolation & purification*
RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase / genetics
Sequence Analysis, DNA

Substances

RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase

Grants and funding

This work was supported by earmarked funds from the Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System (grant CARS-45) and the Science and Technology Department of Zhejiang Province, China (grant 2012C12906-19).