Pislak Ocepek Metka, Glavan Gordana, Verovnik Rudi, Šimenc Laura, Toplak Ivan
Institute of Pathology, Wild Animals, Fish and Bees, Veterinary Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Gerbičeva 60, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Insects. 2022 Oct 12;13(10):925. doi: 10.3390/insects13100925.
Several pathogens are important causes of the observed pollinator decline, some of which could be transmitted between different pollinator species. To determine whether honeybee viruses can be transmitted to butterflies, a total of 120 butterflies were sampled at four locations in Slovenia. At each location, butterflies from three families (Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Hesperiidae/Lycenidae) and Carniolan honeybees () were collected. The RNA of six honeybee viruses, i.e., acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), black queen cell virus (BQCV), chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV), deformed wing virus A (DWV-A), Sacbrood bee virus (SBV), and Lake Sinai virus 3 (LSV3), was detected by a specific quantitative method (RT-PCR). The presence of ABPV, BQCV, LSV3, and SBV was detected in both butterflies and honeybees. All butterfly and bee samples were negative for CBPV, while DWV-A was detected only in honeybees. The viral load in the positive butterfly samples was much lower than in the positive bee samples, which could indicate that butterflies are passive carriers of bee viruses. The percentage of positive butterfly samples was higher when the butterflies were collected at sampling sites with a higher density of apiaries. Therefore, we believe that infected bees are a necessary condition for the presence of viruses in cohabiting butterflies. This is the first study on the presence of pathogenic bee viruses in butterflies.
几种病原体是观察到传粉者数量下降的重要原因，其中一些病原体可在不同传粉者物种之间传播。为了确定蜜蜂病毒是否能传播给蝴蝶，在斯洛文尼亚的四个地点共采集了120只蝴蝶样本。在每个地点，采集了来自三个科（粉蝶科、蛱蝶科、弄蝶科/灰蝶科）的蝴蝶以及喀尼鄂拉蜂（）。通过一种特定的定量方法（逆转录聚合酶链反应，RT-PCR）检测了六种蜜蜂病毒的核糖核酸，即急性蜜蜂麻痹病毒（ABPV）、黑蜂王台病毒（BQCV）、慢性蜜蜂麻痹病毒（CBPV）、残翅病毒A（DWV-A）、囊状幼虫病毒（SBV）和西奈湖病毒3（LSV3）。在蝴蝶和蜜蜂中均检测到了ABPV、BQCV、LSV3和SBV的存在。所有蝴蝶和蜜蜂样本的CBPV检测结果均为阴性，而DWV-A仅在蜜蜂中被检测到。阳性蝴蝶样本中的病毒载量远低于阳性蜜蜂样本，这可能表明蝴蝶是蜜蜂病毒的被动携带者。当在养蜂场密度较高的采样地点采集蝴蝶时，阳性蝴蝶样本的比例更高。因此，我们认为受感染的蜜蜂是共存蝴蝶中存在病毒的必要条件。这是关于蝴蝶中致病性蜜蜂病毒存在情况的首次研究。
