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. 2021 Mar 19;10(3):372.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens10030372.

Detection of Lotmaria passim, Crithidia mellificae and Replicative Forms of Deformed Wing Virus and Kashmir Bee Virus in the Small Hive Beetle (Aethina tumida)

Antonio Nanetti  1 , James D Ellis  2 , Ilaria Cardaio  1 , Giovanni Cilia  1
Affiliations

Detection of Lotmaria passim, Crithidia mellificae and Replicative Forms of Deformed Wing Virus and Kashmir Bee Virus in the Small Hive Beetle (Aethina tumida)

Antonio Nanetti et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

Knowledge regarding the honey bee pathogens borne by invasive bee pests remains scarce. This investigation aimed to assess the presence in Aethina tumida (small hive beetle, SHB) adults of honey bee pathogens belonging to the following groups: (i) bacteria (Paenibacillus larvae and Melissococcus plutonius), (ii) trypanosomatids (Lotmaria passim and Crithidia mellificae), and (iii) viruses (black queen cell virus, Kashmir bee virus, deformed wing virus, slow paralysis virus, sacbrood virus, Israeli acute paralysis virus, acute bee paralysis virus, chronic bee paralysis virus). Specimens were collected from free-flying colonies in Gainesville (Florida, USA) in summer 2017. The results of the molecular analysis show the presence of L. passim, C. mellificae, and replicative forms of deformed wing virus (DWV) and Kashmir bee virus (KBV). Replicative forms of KBV have not previously been reported. These results support the hypothesis of pathogen spillover between managed honey bees and the SHB, and these dynamics require further investigation.

Keywords: Kashmir bee virus; deformed wing virus; honey bee; honey bee virus; invasive pest; replicative virus; small hive beetle; strand-specific RT-PCR; trypanosomatids.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Molecular phylogenetic analysis for RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of deformed wing virus (DWV) using the maximum likelihood method. The evolutionary history was inferred using the maximum likelihood method based on the Tamura–Nei model. The branch lengths of the tree measured the number of substitutions per site. The analysis involved 28 nucleotide sequences. There were 255 positions in the final dataset. Accession number, host, state, and year of available GenBank DWV sequences are shown. DWV sequence accession numbers are reported and associated with year and site of origin and type. The DWV sequence obtained from the tested Aethina tumida samples is in a red box.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Molecular phylogenetic analysis for RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of Kashmir Bee Virus (KBV) using the maximum likelihood method. The evolutionary history was inferred using the maximum likelihood method based on the Tamura–Nei model. The branch lengths of the tree measured the number of substitutions per site. The analysis involved 35 nucleotide sequences. There were 297 positions in the final dataset. Accession number, host, state, and year of available GenBank KBV sequences are shown. KBV sequence accession numbers are reported and associated with the year and site of origin. The DWV sequence obtained from the tested Aethina tumida samples is in a red box.
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