Pathogenesis of varroosis at the level of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony

Wegener, Jakob; Ruhnke, Haike; Scheller, Klaus; Mispagel, Sebastian; Knollmann, U; Kamp, Günter; Bienefeld, Kaspar

doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2016.06.004

Cited by 24 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 66 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It disrupts the bee's immune response by interfering in the cascade immune response [56]. For instance, Varroa reduces the number of haemocytes circulating in the haemolymph, and lowers the expression of prophenol oxidase involved in the synthesis of melanin [57,58]. Both haemocytes and melanin permit the encapsulation of pathogens during infection or wounding, and thus play a role in insect immune response and healing mechanisms [59].…”

Section: What Can It Do?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Varroa destructor: how does it harm Apis mellifera honey bees and what can be done about it?

Noël

Conte

Mondet

2020

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Since its migration from the Asian honey bee (Apis cerana) to the European honey bee (Apis mellifera), the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor has emerged as a major issue for beekeeping worldwide. Due to a short history of coevolution, the host–parasite relationship between A. mellifera and V. destructor is unbalanced, with honey bees suffering infestation effects at the individual, colony and population levels. Several control solutions have been developed to tackle the colony and production losses due to Varroa, but the burden caused by the mite in combination with other biotic and abiotic factors continues to increase, weakening the beekeeping industry. In this synthetic review, we highlight the main advances made between 2015 and 2020 on V. destructor biology and its impact on the health of the honey bee, A. mellifera. We also describe the main control solutions that are currently available to fight the mite and place a special focus on new methodological developments, which point to integrated pest management strategies for the control of Varroa in honey bee colonies.

show abstract

Section: What Can It Do?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Varroa destructor: how does it harm Apis mellifera honey bees and what can be done about it?

Noël

Conte

Mondet

2020

Emerging Topics in Life Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, honey bees are under pressure due to abnormal high colony death rates, especially during the winter 2 . There are several possible explanations for the increased mortality, but the infestation by the Varroa destructor mite and the viruses that this ectoparasite transmits are generally considered the most important biotic threats 3 , 4 . The mite was found to be an efficient vector of viruses even to the extent that initially the clinical symptoms caused by the Deformed wing virus (DWV) were wrongly attributed to the mite 5 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heritability estimates of the novel trait ‘suppressed in ovo virus infection’ in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Graaf

Laget

Smet

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Honey bees are under pressure due to abnormal high colony death rates, especially during the winter. the infestation by the Varroa destructor mite and the viruses that this ectoparasite transmits are generally considered as the bees' most important biological threats. Almost all efforts to remedy this dual infection have so far focused on the control of the Varroa mite alone and not on the viruses it transmits. In the present study, the sanitary control of breeding queens was conducted on eggs taken from drone brood for 4 consecutive years (2015-2018). The screening was performed on the sideline of an ongoing breeding program, which allowed us to estimate the heritabilities of the virus status of the eggs. We used the term 'suppressed in ovo virus infection' (SOV) for this novel trait and found moderate heritabilities for the presence of several viruses simultaneously and for the presence of single viral species. Colonies that expressed the SOV trait seemed to be more resilient to virus infections as a whole with fewer and less severe Deformed wing virus infections in most developmental stages, especially in the male caste. The implementation of this novel trait into breeding programs is recommended. The economic value of the honey bee can be almost entirely attributed to its pollination services for agricultural crops 1. However, honey bees are under pressure due to abnormal high colony death rates, especially during the winter 2. There are several possible explanations for the increased mortality, but the infestation by the Varroa destructor mite and the viruses that this ectoparasite transmits are generally considered the most important biotic threats 3,4. The mite was found to be an efficient vector of viruses even to the extent that initially the clinical symptoms caused by the Deformed wing virus (DWV) were wrongly attributed to the mite 5. The Varroa mite and DWV interact in many different ways, resulting in an increase in DWV virulence 6,7 and colony mortality 8-12. These effects are partially due to the mutualistic symbiotic relationship between both, in which the mite provides transmission of the virus when it feeds on the bee, whereas the virus undermines the immunity of the honey bee by interfering with NF-κB signaling, possibly facilitating the mite's trophic activity 13. Almost all efforts to remedy this dual infection have so far focused on the control of the Varroa mite alone. Indeed, several mitecontrol strategies have been set up in beekeeping practice that rely on acaricide medication or other treatments, biotechnical apicultural methods and selection for Varroa resistance 14. The control of the viruses transmitted by the mite is therefore achieved almost exclusively indirectly, by limiting the severity of the mite infestation. One exception to this is the treatment with double-stranded RNA to provoke a targeted antiviral immune response based on RNA interference, but this is rarely used in beekeeping practice 15,16. The transmission of viruses between bees by the vectoring Varroa mite is descr...

show abstract

“…In recent years, high annual losses of honey bee colonies and reduced population of native and wild bees have been reported (Genersch, 2010; Ravoet et al, 2013; Goulson et al, 2015; Jacques et al, 2017). These losses have been attributed to colony collapse disorder (vanEngelsdorp et al, 2009) and winter losses of 10–15% worldwide, with reductions in overall colony health, brood density, and total honeybee comb number in some cases (Zee et al, 2014), or even higher ratio of brood to bees (compensatory brood production by diseased colonies; Wegener et al, 2016). Meanwhile, colony losses have reached a level of 30.7% in 2018 in the USA (Bruckner et al, 2018), and mean mortality of European colony losses has remained lower (11.22% in 2014) (Jacques et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Load of Deformed Wing Virus and Varroa destructor Infestation Are Related to Weakness of Honey Bee Colonies in Southern Spain

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many factors, including pathogens, contribute to the continuing losses of colonies of the honey bee Apis mellifera , which has led to steady population decline. In particular, colony losses have been linked to deformed wing virus (DWV) and the Varroa destructor mite. To clarify the potential role of these two pathogens in honey bee colony weakening and loss, we sampled colonies in southern Spain during a 21-month period and analyzed the samples for loads of four viruses and varroa. Loads of DWV and black queen cell virus as well as varroa infestation negatively correlated with colony vigor as measured using the subjective colony strength method. Logistic regression identified varroa and DWV as the main factors involved in colony weakening. Our results confirm that varroa and DWV play a key role in triggering colony weakening in southern Spain and provide evidence that experienced beekeepers’ and technicians’ assessments of colony vigor can accurately estimate colony strength.

show abstract

Pathogenesis of varroosis at the level of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony

Cited by 24 publications

References 66 publications

Varroa destructor: how does it harm Apis mellifera honey bees and what can be done about it?

Varroa destructor: how does it harm Apis mellifera honey bees and what can be done about it?

Heritability estimates of the novel trait ‘suppressed in ovo virus infection’ in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

High Load of Deformed Wing Virus and Varroa destructor Infestation Are Related to Weakness of Honey Bee Colonies in Southern Spain

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About