Global similarity, and some key differences, in the metagenomes of Swedish varroa-surviving and varroa-susceptible honeybees.

ABSTRACT: There is increasing evidence that honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) can adapt naturally to survive Varroa destructor, the primary cause of colony mortality world-wide. Most of the adaptive traits of naturally varroa-surviving honeybees concern varroa reproduction. Here we investigate whether factors in the honeybee metagenome also contribute to this survival. The quantitative and qualitative composition of the bacterial and viral metagenome fluctuated greatly during the active season, but with little overall difference between varroa-surviving and varroa-susceptible colonies. The main exceptions were Bartonella apis and sacbrood virus, particularly during early spring and autumn. Bombella apis was also strongly associated with early and late season, though equally for all colonies. All three a

SUBMITTER: Thaduri S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8636477 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature