Molecular detection of black queen cell virus and Kashmir bee virus in honey

Abstract

Considering the intensive trading nowadays, the honey from the local market was tested for the presence of the six most common bee viruses. To prove the suitability of honey as a sample for the bee viruses detection, the set of different sample types taken directly from the hives we comparatively tested. The study included 30 samples of domestic and 5 samples of imported honey. Additionally, we tested 40 sets of samples including live bees, dead bees, and the honey taken from four apiaries for the evaluation of honey suitability for the virus detection, Two out of the six most common bee viruses were detected in the samples of honey from the market. Black queen cell virus (BQCV) genome was found in 24 domestic honey samples and Kashmir bee virus (KBV) genome was detected in one sample of imported honey. The nucleotide sequences of 24 BQCV isolates showed the highest identity (86.4%) with strains from Europe at the polyprotein gene, whilst the Serbian isolates between each other showed 98.5% similarity. By comparative testing of the different type of samples, in three out of four apiaries BQCV genome was detected in both bees and honey. Evaluating the suitability of honey for the detection of the viral disease by simultaneous testing of live, dead bees, and honey from the same hive, it was shown that the honey can be successfully used for the detection of BQCV. Since, as of yet, there has been no evidence of KBV circulation in Serbia, after its detection in imported honey, there is a substantial risk of its introduction and consequently the need for its surveillance. Therefore, the programs of bee diseases screening should be included in the regular control procedures for the international trade. In addition to this benefit, honey gives an opportunity to beekeepers for continuous monitoring of bees’ health status.

Black queen cell virus and Nosema ceranae coinfection in Africanized honey bees from southern Brazil

“…In the phylogenetic analysis of partial capsid protein gene (Fig.1), the sequences of this study (BR-BQCV) showed greater similarity with Asian sequences and sequences from the United States (USA), Germany and Peru. The sequences from Belgium, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia are grouped into a distinct cluster, suggesting that geographic origins of sequences can be decisive for their genetic divergence (Roberts et al 2017, Milićević et al 2018, Prodělalová et al 2019. The sequence from Brazil D6 (EU292211), collected in 2007 in the Southeast region, was grouped in a different cluster when compared with the samples from this study.…”

“…It has been reported the active replication of virus in drones and the transmission through semen (Alger et al 2019, Prodělalová et al 2019. BQCV has already been detected in flowers collected from the apiaries (Alger et al 2019), and in samples of honey (Milićević et al 2018).…”

Bee Viruses: Routes of Infection in Hymenoptera

“…Robbing of honey bee colonies by bumble bees (Genersch et al, 2006) and wasps has also been documented, but is more individual rather than systematic and usually toward the end of summer when both wasp and bumble bee colonies are in natural decline. Viruses can certainly be detected in honey (Milićević et al, 2018), so that robbing honey does expose robbing bees and wasps to potential infection (Genersch et al, 2006), but direct evidence for virus transmission through honey is so far absent, for honey bees or bumble bees.…”

Molecular Detection of Nosema spp. in Honey in Bulgaria

“…A large number of methods and techniques have been developed for the identification of various honey bee pathogens [9][10][11]. One of the most widely used methods for the detection of a particular pathogen is the amplification of coding and/or noncoding DNA regions, followed by a sequence analysis of the amplified DNA fragment [12][13][14].…”

“…Most often forager bees and, less frequently, house bees, drones, or brood are used as a source of biological material for the identification of a particular pathogen. Alternatively, a large number of honey bee pathogens may be detected in honey bee products-usually, honey, propolis, and bee wax [14][15][16][17][18].…”