ABSTRACT
In several regions of Russia, broad distribution of RNA-containing bee viruses was found at apiaries of honey bee Apis mellifera using RT-PCR. Detected RNA-containing bee viruses are transferred simultaneously with invasion of mite Varroa destructor and lead to mass bee mortality that results in economic losses in bee breeding. In samples of Varroa destructor, bee viruses DWV and ABPV were found. High degree of RNA-containing virus (BQCV, DWV SBV, ABPV, CBPV and KBV) infection was revealed: in the average, at least 50% for bee families with mite infection. In the bee families studied in this work, mixed infection with 2-6 viruses simultaneously was detected. Amplified fragments of viruses BQCV, DWV and SBV obtained using RT-PCR were sequenced and registered in Genbank.
Subject(s)
Bees/virology , RNA Viruses/genetics , Virus Diseases/genetics , Animals , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction , Russia , Virus Diseases/veterinaryABSTRACT
Deformed wing virus (DWV) was first detected in the honey bee Apis mellifera by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCT) in the Moscow Region. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the detected nucleotide sequence of the virus fragment VP2-VP1 of DWV demonstrated that the Russian virus sequence is united in the common cluster with all earlier revealed nucleotide sequences of DWV in the Genbank worldwide, which confirms the previous conclusions that this virus has recently distributed in the honey bee by Varroa destructor mite. It has been shown that the level of homology for all DWV nucleotide sequences is 98%, except for nucleoside sequence of 7D isolate from Turkey (96% homology), 96% homology with Kakugo virus and 84-86% homology with Varroa destructor virus 1; there is a preponderance of insignificant nucleotide substitutions, mainly transitions, which supports the evolutionary propinquity of 3 viruses.
