Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.
Pollinator Health Center, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.
Viruses. 2021 Feb 12;13(2):291. doi: 10.3390/v13020291.
Bees are important plant pollinators in agricultural and natural ecosystems. High average annual losses of honey bee () colonies in some parts of the world, and regional population declines of some mining bee species (.), are attributed to multiple factors including habitat loss, lack of quality forage, insecticide exposure, and pathogens, including viruses. While research has primarily focused on viruses in honey bees, many of these viruses have a broad host range. It is therefore important to apply a community level approach in studying the epidemiology of bee viruses. We utilized high-throughput sequencing to evaluate viral diversity and viral sharing in sympatric, co-foraging bees in the context of habitat type. Variants of four common viruses (i.e., black queen cell virus, deformed wing virus, Lake Sinai virus 2, and Lake Sinai virus NE) were identified in honey bee and mining bee samples, and the high degree of nucleotide identity in the virus consensus sequences obtained from both taxa indicates virus sharing. We discovered a unique bipartite + ssRNA Tombo-like virus, Andrena-associated bee virus-1 (AnBV-1). AnBV-1 infects mining bees, honey bees, and primary honey bee pupal cells maintained in culture. AnBV-1 prevalence and abundance was greater in mining bees than in honey bees. Statistical modeling that examined the roles of ecological factors, including floral diversity and abundance, indicated that AnBV-1 infection prevalence in honey bees was greater in habitats with low floral diversity and abundance, and that interspecific virus transmission is strongly modulated by the floral community in the habitat. These results suggest that land management strategies that aim to enhance floral diversity and abundance may reduce AnBV-1 spread between co-foraging bees.
蜜蜂是农业和自然生态系统中重要的植物传粉媒介。在世界上一些地区，蜜蜂种群平均每年大量损失，一些采蜜蜂种（如 mining bee）在某些地区的数量也有所下降，其原因包括栖息地丧失、缺乏优质饲料、杀虫剂暴露以及病原体（包括病毒）等多种因素。尽管研究主要集中在蜜蜂身上的病毒，但这些病毒中有许多具有广泛的宿主范围。因此，在研究蜜蜂病毒的流行病学时，采用群落水平的方法非常重要。我们利用高通量测序技术，在栖息地类型的背景下，评估了共生、共同觅食的蜜蜂中的病毒多样性和病毒共享情况。在蜜蜂和采蜜蜂样本中鉴定出了四种常见病毒（即黑皇后细胞病毒、变形翅膀病毒、西奈湖病毒 2 型和西奈湖病毒 NE 型）的变体，从两个分类群中获得的病毒共识序列的核苷酸同一性很高，表明存在病毒共享。我们发现了一种独特的二分体+ssRNA Tombo 样病毒，即安德瑞纳相关蜜蜂病毒-1（AnBV-1）。AnBV-1 感染采蜜蜂、蜜蜂和在培养中维持的原代蜜蜂幼虫细胞。与蜜蜂相比，AnBV-1 在采蜜蜂中的感染率和丰度更高。检查包括花卉多样性和丰度在内的生态因素作用的统计模型表明，在花卉多样性和丰度低的栖息地中，蜜蜂中 AnBV-1 的感染率更高，并且种间病毒传播受到栖息地中花卉群落的强烈调节。这些结果表明，旨在提高花卉多样性和丰度的土地管理策略可能会减少共同觅食的蜜蜂之间 AnBV-1 的传播。
