Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27402-6170, USA.
Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7613, USA.
Viruses. 2020 Mar 17;12(3):322. doi: 10.3390/v12030322.
The honey bee queen is the central hub of a colony to produce eggs and release pheromones to maintain social cohesion. Among many environmental stresses, viruses are a major concern to compromise the queen's health and reproductive vigor. Viruses have evolved numerous strategies to infect queens either via vertical transmission from the queens' parents or horizontally through the worker and drones with which she is in contact during development, while mating, and in the reproductive period in the colony. Over 30 viruses have been discovered from honey bees but only few studies exist on the pathogenicity and direct impact of viruses on the queen's phenotype. An apparent lack of virus symptoms and practical problems are partly to blame for the lack of studies, and we hope to stimulate new research and methodological approaches. To illustrate the problems, we describe a study on sublethal effects of Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) that led to inconclusive results. We conclude by discussing the most crucial methodological considerations and novel approaches for studying the interactions between honey bee viruses and their interactions with queen health.
蜂王是蜂群的中心枢纽，负责产卵并释放信息素来维持社会凝聚力。在许多环境压力下，病毒是危害蜂王健康和生殖活力的主要因素。病毒已经进化出多种策略来感染蜂王，要么通过蜂王父母的垂直传播，要么通过工蜂和雄蜂在发育、交配和在蜂群中的生殖期间与她接触进行水平传播。已经从蜜蜂中发现了 30 多种病毒，但关于病毒对蜂王表型的致病性和直接影响的研究很少。病毒症状不明显和实际问题部分导致了研究的缺乏，我们希望能激发新的研究和方法学方法。为了说明这些问题，我们描述了一项关于以色列急性麻痹病毒（IAPV）对蜂王产生亚致死效应的研究，该研究得出的结果并不明确。最后，我们讨论了研究蜜蜂病毒之间相互作用及其与蜂王健康相互作用的最关键的方法学考虑因素和新方法。
