Shantal Rodríguez-Flores M, Lopes Ana R, Diéguez-Antón Ana, Carmen Seijo M, Alice Pinto M
Department of Plant Biology and Soil Sciences, University of Vigo, Campus As Lagoas, 32004 Ourense, Spain.
Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal; Laboratório Associado para a Sustentabilidade e Tecnologia em Regiões de Montanha (SusTEC), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal.
J Invertebr Pathol. 2024 Nov;207:108215. doi: 10.1016/j.jip.2024.108215. Epub 2024 Oct 9.
Apiaries in Galicia, northwestern Spain, are currently facing the invasive alien species Vespa velutina, which is well established in the region. The pressure on honey bee colonies is high, resulting in both economic and ecological losses. Honey bee colonies also face the challenge of viruses, which are becoming increasingly diverse. In recent years, honey bee viruses have been spreading across taxonomic groups beyond Apoidea, infecting the Vespoidea superfamily. This cross-species spillover has raised concerns in the scientific community due to the potential risk of viruses spreading in ecosystems. Currently, there is a lack of knowledge on this topic, and further research is needed to address this issue. This study employed qPCR and sequencing to investigate the prevalence, loads, and presence of replicative forms of important honey bee viruses in V. velutina individuals collected from 11 apiaries in Galicia. All V. velutina individuals tested positive for DWV, BQCV, AKI complex (ABPV, KBV, and IAPV), or LSV but not for CBPV. DWV showed the highest prevalence (97.0 %) and loads, with both DWV-A (67.4 %) and DWV-B (32.6 %) being detected. The AKI complex (46.3 %) and LSV (43.3 %) were also common, whereas BQCV (11.9 %) was rarer. LSV is detected for the first time in V. velutina. LSV-2 was the dominant strain (82.1 %), and two less frequent (17.9 %) unknown strains were also detected. All 44 screened V. velutina samples carried the replicative form of DWV, and six of these also carried the replicative form of LSV, raising for the first time the possibility of co-infection in the hornet. The detection of honey bee viruses in V. velutina, and the ability of these viruses to spread to other species, may indicate a potential risk of spillover in the apiaries.
西班牙西北部加利西亚的养蜂场目前正面临外来入侵物种黄脚胡蜂，该物种在该地区已广泛分布。对蜂群的压力很大，导致了经济和生态损失。蜂群还面临着病毒的挑战，病毒种类越来越多。近年来，蜜蜂病毒已在膜翅目之外的分类群中传播，感染了胡蜂总科。这种跨物种溢出引起了科学界的关注，因为病毒在生态系统中传播存在潜在风险。目前，关于这个话题的知识还很缺乏，需要进一步研究来解决这个问题。本研究采用定量聚合酶链反应（qPCR）和测序技术，调查了从加利西亚11个养蜂场采集的黄脚胡蜂个体中重要蜜蜂病毒的流行率、载量和复制形式的存在情况。所有黄脚胡蜂个体对黑蜂王台病毒（DWV）、残翅病毒（BQCV）、急性蜜蜂麻痹病毒复合体（ABPV、KBV和IAPV）或慢蜜蜂麻痹病毒（LSV）检测呈阳性，但对慢性蜜蜂麻痹病毒（CBPV）检测呈阴性。DWV的流行率（97.0%）和载量最高，同时检测到DWV-A（67.4%）和DWV-B（32.6%）。急性蜜蜂麻痹病毒复合体（46.3%）和慢蜜蜂麻痹病毒（43.3%）也很常见，而残翅病毒（11.9%）则较少见。慢蜜蜂麻痹病毒首次在黄脚胡蜂中被检测到。LSV-2是优势毒株（82.1%），还检测到两个频率较低（17.9%）的未知毒株。所有44个筛查的黄脚胡蜂样本都携带黑蜂王台病毒的复制形式，其中6个还携带慢蜜蜂麻痹病毒的复制形式，首次提出了黄蜂共感染的可能性。在黄脚胡蜂中检测到蜜蜂病毒，以及这些病毒传播到其他物种的能力，可能表明养蜂场存在溢出的潜在风险。
