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. 2020 Nov 15;12(11):1309.
doi: 10.3390/v12111309.

Deformed Wing Virus in Two Widespread Invasive Ants: Geographical Distribution, Prevalence, and Phylogeny

Chun-Yi Lin  1 , Chih-Chi Lee  1   2 , Yu-Shin Nai  3 , Hung-Wei Hsu  1   2 , Chow-Yang Lee  4 , Kazuki Tsuji  5 , Chin-Cheng Scotty Yang  3   6
Affiliations

Deformed Wing Virus in Two Widespread Invasive Ants: Geographical Distribution, Prevalence, and Phylogeny

Chun-Yi Lin et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Spillover of honey bee viruses have posed a significant threat to pollination services, triggering substantial effort in determining the host range of the viruses as an attempt to understand the transmission dynamics. Previous studies have reported infection of honey bee viruses in ants, raising the concern of ants serving as a reservoir host. Most of these studies, however, are restricted to a single, local ant population. We assessed the status (geographical distribution/prevalence/viral replication) and phylogenetic relationships of honey bee viruses in ants across the Asia-Pacific region, using deformed wing virus (DWV) and two widespread invasive ants, Paratrechina longicornis and Anoplolepis gracilipes, as the study system. DWV was detected in both ant species, with differential geographical distribution patterns and prevenance levels between them. These metrics, however, are consistent across the geographical range of the same ant species. Active replication was only evident in P. longicornis. We also showed that ant-associated DWV is genetically similar to that isolated from Asian populations of honey bees, suggesting that local acquisition of DWV by the invasive ants may have been common at least in some of our sampled regions. Transmission efficiency of DWV to local arthropods mediated by ant, however, may vary across ant species.

Keywords: deformed wing virus; honey bee; longhorn crazy ant; virus spillover; yellow crazy ant.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map showing an overview of deformed wing virus status in two widespread invasive ant species, Paratrechina longicornis (longhorn crazy ant, LCA) and Anoplolepis gracilipes (yellow crazy ant, YCA), across the Asia–Pacific region.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis of multiple DWV isolates worldwide, based on the Peptidase C3G gene’s nucleotide sequence. The number at each branch of the phylogenetic tree represents the bootstrap value (5000 replicates). NA: North America; SA: South America; EU: Europe; NZ: New Zealand.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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