A Metagenomic Survey of Microbes in Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

Cox-Foster, Diana; Conlan, Sean; Holmes, Edward C.; Palacios, Gustavo; Evans, Jay D.; Moran, Nancy A.; Quan, Phenix‐Lan; Briese, Thomas; Hornig, Mady; Geiser, David M.; Martinson, Vincent G.; vanEngelsdorp, Dennis; Kalkstein, Abby L.; Drysdale, Andrew T.; Hui, Jeffrey; Zhai, Jing; Cui, Liwang; Hutchison, Stephen; Simons, Jan Fredrik; Egholm, Michael; Pettis, Jeffery S.; Lipkin, W. Ian

doi:10.1126/science.1146498

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“…Unselected colony, grey columns; breeder colony, white columns; colonies headed by queens from non-hygienic patrilines, striped columns; colonies headed by queens from hygienic patrilines, black columns. honeybee diseases, and breeding for the trait is particularly pertinent given the recent damage caused by the emerging disease syndrome known as Colony Collapse Disorder in the USA (Cox-Foster et al, 2007). Multi-level selection is also applicable for other heritable traits in honeybee breeding, particularly those in which the overall colony phenotype is disproportionately affected by the genotypes of a minority of workers, as with hygienic behaviour.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Disease is particularly important for honeybees, Apis mellifera, and thus for the apicultural and agricultural industries that they support (Beban, 2003;Waite et al, 2003b; Committee on the Status of Pollinators in North America, 2007). The threat posed by parasites is abundantly illustrated by the recent problems caused by Varroa mite in many countries (Ellis and Munn, 2005;Wilkins et al, 2007), and by the occurrence of 'Colony Collapse Disorder' in the USA in 2007 (Cox-Foster et al, 2007). Although chemicals can sometimes be effective at controlling pests and pathogens, they are expensive, residues can make honey unsafe for human consumption, and target organisms such as Varroa have evolved resistance to them in some areas (Floris et al, 2001;Lodesani and Costa, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multi-level selection for hygienic behaviour in honeybees

et al. 2009

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Disease is one of the main factors driving both natural and artificial selection. It is a particularly important and increasing threat to the managed honeybee colonies, which are vital in crop pollination. Artificial selection for disease-resistant honeybee genotypes has previously only been carried out at the colony-level, that is, by using queens or males reared from colonies that show resistance. However, honeybee queens mate with many males and so each colony consists of multiple patrilines that will vary in heritable traits, such as disease resistance. Here, we investigate whether response to artificial selection for a key resistance mechanism, hygienic behaviour, can be improved using multi-level selection, that is, by selecting not only among colonies as normal but also among patrilines within colonies. Highly hygienic colonies were identified (between-colony selection), and the specific patrilines within them responsible for most hygienic behaviour were determined using observation hives. Queens reared from these hygienic patrilines (within-colony selection) were identified using DNA microsatellite analysis of a wing-tip tissue sample and then mated to drones from a third highly hygienic colony. The resulting colonies headed by queens from hygienic patrilines showed approximately double the level of hygienic behaviour of colonies headed by sister queens from non-hygienic patrilines. The results show that multi-level selection can significantly improve the success of honeybee breeding programs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-level selection for hygienic behaviour in honeybees

et al. 2009

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“…The role of Varroa mite as a vector in the transmission of bee viruses has been well documented (Bowen-Walker et al, 1999;Chen et al, 2004;Shen et al, 2005). However, it has not yet been demonstrated if this mite could act as a vector of Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), a virus that was tightly correlated with honeybee colony collapse disorder (CCD), a malady that has decimated honeybee colonies across the USA (Cox-Foster et al, 2007;vanEngelsdorp et al, 2007) and around the world (Neumann & Carreck, 2010). The present study was undertaken to determine the possible role of Varroa mites in the transmission of IAPV and in the promotion of its replication in honeybees.…”

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Varroa destructor is an effective vector of Israeli acute paralysis virus in the honeybee, Apis mellifera

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et al. 2010

Journal of General Virology

211

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The Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) is a significant marker of honeybee colony collapse disorder (CCD). In the present work, we provide the first evidence that Varroa destructor is IAPV replication-competent and capable of vectoring IAPV in honeybees. The honeybees became infected with IAPV after exposure to Varroa mites that carried the virus. The copy number of IAPV in bees was positively correlated with the density of Varroa mites and time period of exposure to Varroa mites. Further, we showed that the mite-virus association could possibly reduce host immunity and therefore promote elevated levels of virus replication. This study defines an active role of Varroa mites in IAPV transmission and sheds light on the epidemiology of IAPV infection in honeybees.Varroatosis is one of the most serious honeybee diseases caused by a parasitic mite, Varroa destructor. Varroa mites use their piercing mouthparts to suck out haemolymph from honeybees. The repeated feeding results in a decline of colony vigour, shortened life span of the honeybees and eventual perishing of colonies (Rosenkranz et al., 2010). Further, the feeding of Varroa mites gives mites the potential to act as vectors of bee diseases, presenting additional threats to bee health. The role of Varroa mite as a vector in the transmission of bee viruses has been well documented (Bowen-Walker et al., 1999;Chen et al., 2004;Shen et al., 2005). However, it has not yet been demonstrated if this mite could act as a vector of Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), a virus that was tightly correlated with honeybee colony collapse disorder (CCD), a malady that has decimated honeybee colonies across the USA (Cox-Foster et al., 2007;vanEngelsdorp et al., 2007) and around the world (Neumann & Carreck, 2010). The present study was undertaken to determine the possible role of Varroa mites in the transmission of IAPV and in the promotion of its replication in honeybees. Moreover, the expression of immune-related gene transcripts, apidaecin and eater that are involved in honeybee humoral and cellular immunity (Ertürk-Hasdemir & Silverman, 2005;Evans et al., 2006;Kocks et al., 2005;Simone et al., 2009) was measured in Varroa-challenged bees. Apidaecin is a proline-rich peptide and one of the most prominent components of the honeybee humoral defence against microbial invasion (Evans et al. 2006). Eater is a member of epidermal growth factor-family protein involved cellular immunity, as it plays an important role in phagocytosis (Ertürk-Hasdemir & Silverman, 2005;Kocks et al., 2005). Two strong bee colonies (i.e. with at least seven frames filled with capped brood and food, and covered with adult bees) and two weak colonies (i.e. with a low-adult bee population and fewer than four frames with a small patch of capped brood) that were determined to be free of IAPV infection by RT-PCR assay were selected for transmission studies. Further, the expression levels of vitellogenin, an indicator of the general health of the colonies (Amdam et al., 2005;Simone et al., 2009), were det...

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“…RNA was extracted from brains, pooled and randomly amplifi ed for unbiased high-throughput sequencing (8), yielding 96,698 reads, ranging from 40 nt to 353 nt. After implementation of algorithms for vertebrate sequence subtraction and contiguous fragment assembly, GenBank searches using BLAST (http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast.cgi) indicated a relation to BDV for a total of 11 contigs covering ≈1.1 kb of sequence distributed in 6 clusters throughout the N (230 nt), P (450 nt), G (250 nt), and L (120, 80, and 250 nt) genes ( Figure 1).…”

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confidence: 99%