Systemic spread and propagation of a plant-pathogenic virus in European honeybees, Apis mellifera.

ABSTRACT:

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Emerging and reemerging diseases that result from pathogen host shifts are a threat to the health of humans and their domesticates. RNA viruses have extremely high mutation rates and thus represent a significant source of these infectious diseases. In the present study, we showed that a plant-pathogenic RNA virus, tobacco ringspot virus (TRSV), could replicate and produce virions in honeybees, Apis mellifera, resulting in infections that were found throughout the entire body. Additionally, we showed that TRSV-infected individuals were continually present in some monitored colonies. While intracellular life cycle, species-level genetic variation, and pathogenesis of the virus in honeybee hosts remain to be determined, the increasing prevalence of TRSV in conjunction with

SUBMITTER: Li JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3903276 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature