Parasitic and Honey Bee Disease Laboratory, Bacterial and Parasitic Disease Division, Department of Animal and Plant Health Research, Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, Gimcheon 39660, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Republic of Korea.
Faculty of Biotechnology, Thai Nguyen University of Sciences, Thai Nguyen 250000, Vietnam.
Viruses. 2023 Mar 31;15(4):897. doi: 10.3390/v15040897.
Sacbrood virus (SBV) infection has emerged as a remarkable threat to colonies in South Korea, necessitating prompt control measures. In this study, RNA interference (RNAi) targeting the VP3 gene was developed to assess its safety and efficacy in protecting and treating SBV in vitro and in infected colonies in South Korean apiaries. The efficacy of VP3 double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) was demonstrated in laboratory-based experiments, wherein infected larvae treated with VP3 dsRNA exhibited a 32.7% increase in survival rate compared to untreated larvae. Data from a large-scale field trial indicate the efficacy of dsRNA treatment since none of the treated colonies had symptomatic SBV infections, whereas disease was observed in 43% (3/7) of the control colonies. In the 102 colonies exhibiting symptoms of SBV disease, RNAi treatment provided partial protection with weekly treatment, prolonging the survival period of colonies to 8 months compared to 2 months in colonies treated at 2- and 4-week intervals. Therefore, this study demonstrated that RNAi is a valuable tool for preventing SBV disease outbreaks in healthy and low-level SBV-infected colonies.
Sacbrood 病毒（SBV）感染已成为韩国蜂群的一个显著威胁，需要采取迅速的控制措施。本研究针对 VP3 基因开发了 RNA 干扰（RNAi）技术，以评估其在体外保护和治疗 SBV 以及治疗韩国养蜂场感染蜂群的安全性和有效性。在实验室的实验中，VP3 双链 RNA（dsRNA）的疗效得到了证明，与未处理的幼虫相比，用 VP3 dsRNA 处理的感染幼虫的存活率提高了 32.7%。来自大规模田间试验的数据表明 dsRNA 处理有效，因为没有一个经过处理的蜂群出现 SBV 感染的症状，而在 43%（3/7）的对照蜂群中观察到了疾病。在 102 个出现 SBV 疾病症状的蜂群中，每周进行 RNAi 处理可提供部分保护，使蜂群的存活期延长至 8 个月，而每隔 2 周和 4 周进行处理的蜂群的存活期仅为 2 个月。因此，本研究表明 RNAi 是预防健康和低水平 SBV 感染蜂群 SBV 疾病爆发的一种有价值的工具。
