Distinct virome compositions and lack of viral diversification indicate that viral spillover is a dead-end between the western honey bee and the common eastern bumblebee.

ABSTRACT: Pathogen spillover events are of global concern as they have the potential to cause significant harm to the novel host species. The potential of viral spillover from the western honey bee (Apis mellifera) to other insects is well established. New variants should inevitably emerge following a host expansion, yet to our knowledge no study has shown this within this system. To investigate the outcome of viral spillover, we sequenced the RNA biased viromes of sympatric A. mellifera (n = 389) and common eastern bumblebee Bombus impatiens (n = 117) over three years. Distinct viromes occurred within each bee species throughout the study duration, with only one of the well-characterized honey bee viruses, sacbrood virus, consistently found in the bumblebee virome. Viruses shared by both bees share

SUBMITTER: McKeown DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12170865 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature