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Global Honey Bee Viral Landscape Altered by a Parasitic Mite

2012; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 336; Issue: 6086 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.1220941

1095-9203

Stephen J. Martin, Andrea Highfield, Laura E. Brettell, Ethel M. Villalobos, Giles E. Budge, Michelle E. Powell, Scott Nikaido, Declan C. Schroeder,

Plant and animal studies

Emerging diseases are among the greatest threats to honey bees. Unfortunately, where and when an emerging disease will appear are almost impossible to predict. The arrival of the parasitic Varroa mite into the Hawaiian honey bee population allowed us to investigate changes in the prevalence, load, and strain diversity of honey bee viruses. The mite increased the prevalence of a single viral species, deformed wing virus (DWV), from ~10 to 100% within honey bee populations, which was accompanied by a millionfold increase in viral titer and a massive reduction in DWV diversity, leading to the predominance of a single DWV strain. Therefore, the global spread of Varroa has selected DWV variants that have emerged to allow it to become one of the most widely distributed and contagious insect viruses on the planet.