Mondet, Fanny and Rodrigues De Miranda, Joachim and Kretzschmar, Andre and Le Conte, Yves and Mercer, Alison R.
(2014).
On the front line: quantitative virus dynamics in honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies along a new expansion front of the parasite Varroa destructor.
Plos Pathogens. 10
:8
, 1-15
[Journal article]
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PDF
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. 834kB |
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1004323
Abstract
Over the past fifty years, annual honeybee (Apis mellifera) colony losses have been steadily increasing worldwide. These losses have occurred in parallel with the global spread of the honeybee parasite Varroa destructor. Indeed, Varroa mite infestations are considered to be a key explanatory factor for the widespread increase in annual honeybee colony mortality. The host-parasite relationship between honeybees and Varroa is complicated by the mite's close association with a range of honeybee viral pathogens. The 10-year history of the expanding front of Varroa infestation in New Zealand offered a rare opportunity to assess the dynamic quantitative and qualitative changes in honeybee viral landscapes in response to the arrival, spread and level of Varroa infestation. We studied the impact of de novo infestation of bee colonies by Varroa on the prevalence and titres of seven well-characterised honeybee viruses in both bees and mites, using a large-scale molecular ecology approach. We also examined the effect of the number of years since Varroa arrival on honeybee and mite viral titres. The dynamic shifts in the viral titres of black queen cell virus and Kashmir bee virus mirrored the patterns of change in Varroa infestation rates along the Varroa expansion front. The deformed wing virus (DWV) titres in bees continued to increase with Varroa infestation history, despite dropping infestation rates, which could be linked to increasing DWV titres in the mites. This suggests that the DWV titres in mites, perhaps boosted by virus replication, may be a major factor in maintaining the DWV epidemic after initial establishment. Both positive and negative associations were identified for several pairs of viruses, in response to the arrival of Varroa. These findings provide important new insights into the role of the parasitic mite Varroa destructor in influencing the viral landscape that affects honeybee colonies.
Authors/Creators: | Mondet, Fanny and Rodrigues De Miranda, Joachim and Kretzschmar, Andre and Le Conte, Yves and Mercer, Alison R. | ||||
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Title: | On the front line: quantitative virus dynamics in honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies along a new expansion front of the parasite Varroa destructor | ||||
Series/Journal: | Plos Pathogens (1553-7374) | ||||
Year of publishing : | 2014 | ||||
Volume: | 10 | ||||
Number: | 8 | ||||
Page range: | 1-15 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 15 | ||||
Publisher: | Public Library of Science | ||||
ISSN: | 1553-7374 | ||||
Language: | English | ||||
Publication Type: | Journal article | ||||
Refereed: | Yes | ||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||
Version: | Published version | ||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 | ||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||
Agris subject categories.: | L Animal production > L20 Animal ecology | ||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Ecology (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Other Biological Topics | ||||
Agrovoc terms: | viruses, apis mellifera, varroa | ||||
Keywords: | viruses, apis mellifera, varroa | ||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-2665 | ||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-2665 | ||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 12210 | ||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Ecology (S) > Dept. of Ecology | ||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||
Deposited On: | 03 Jun 2015 08:28 | ||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 09 Sep 2020 14:17 |
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