New Viruses from the Ectoparasite Mite Varroa destructor Infesting Apis mellifera and Apis cerana.

ABSTRACT: Varroa destructor is an ectoparasitic mite of Asian or Eastern honeybees Apis cerana(A. cerana) which has become a serious threat to European subspecies of Western honeybees Apis mellifera (A. mellifera) within the last century. V.destructor and its vectored honeybee viruses became serious threats for colony survival. This is a short period for pathogen- and host-populations to adapt. To look for possible variation in the composition of viral populations we performed RNA metagenomic analysis of the Western honeybee subspecies A. m. ligustica, A. m.syriaca, A. m. intermissa, and A. cerana and their respective V. destructor mites. The analysis revealed two novel viruses: Varroa orthomyxovirus-1 (VOV-1)

SUBMITTER: Levin S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6409542 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature