Bacterial and Parasitic Diseases Research Division, National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0856, Japan; The United Graduate School of Veterinary Sciences, Gifu University, Gifu, Gifu 501-1193, Japan.
Kagawa Prefecture Eastern Regional Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Miki, Kagawa 761-0701, Japan.
Vet Microbiol. 2014 Jun 25;171(1-2):221-6. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2014.03.036. Epub 2014 Apr 3.
Melissococcus plutonius is an important pathogen of honeybee larvae and causes European foulbrood (EFB) not only in European honeybees (Apis mellifera) but also in other native honeybees. We recently confirmed the first EFB case in Japanese native honeybees (Apis cerana japonica) and isolated M. plutonius from this case. In this study, to obtain a better understanding of the ecology of M. plutonius and the epidemiology of EFB, we analyzed M. plutonius isolates that originated from European and Japanese honeybees in Japan using an existing multilocus sequence typing scheme. These analyzed Japanese isolates were resolved into six sequence types (STs), three of which were novel STs. Among these six STs, ST3 and ST12 were the two most common and found in isolates from both European and Japanese honeybees (or their environment). Moreover, these two STs were identified not only in Japan but also in other countries, suggesting the spread of some STs across borders and different honeybee species.
堆囊菌（Melissococcus plutonius）是一种重要的蜜蜂幼虫病原体，不仅会引起欧洲幼虫腐臭病（EFB），还会引起其他本地蜜蜂物种的发病。我们最近在日本本地蜜蜂（Apis cerana japonica）中确认了首例 EFB 病例，并从该病例中分离出了堆囊菌。在这项研究中，为了更好地了解堆囊菌的生态学和 EFB 的流行病学，我们使用现有的多位点序列分型方案，对源自日本欧洲和日本蜜蜂的堆囊菌分离株进行了分析。这些经过分析的日本分离株被分为六种序列型（ST），其中三种是新的 ST。在这六种 ST 中，ST3 和 ST12 是最常见的两种，存在于欧洲和日本蜜蜂（或其环境）的分离株中。此外，这两种 ST 不仅在日本，而且在其他国家也有发现，这表明一些 ST 跨越了国界和不同的蜜蜂物种传播。
