The first molecular detection and phylogenetic assessment of six honeybee viruses in Apis mellifera L. colonies in Bulgaria

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1 Agricultural and Stockbreeding Experimental Station, Agricultural Academy, Smolyan, Bulgaria
2 Department of Animal Diversity and Resources, Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
3 Department of Pathology, Institute of Experimental Morphology, Pathology and Morphology and Anthropology with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
4 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia, Bulgaria
5 Laboratory of Agricultural Zoology and Entomology, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.26595v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Biodiversity, Entomology, Genetics, Virology
Keywords
Honey bee viruses, RT-PCR, Apis mellifera, Bulgaria
Copyright
© 2018 Shumkova et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Shumkova R, Neov B, Sirakova D, Georgieva A, Teofanova D, Radoslavov G, Bouga M, Hristov P. 2018. The first molecular detection and phylogenetic assessment of six honeybee viruses in Apis mellifera L. colonies in Bulgaria. PeerJ Preprints 6:e26595v1

Abstract

Honey bee colonies suffer from various pathogens, including honey bee viruses. About 24 viruses have been reported so far. However, six of them are considered to cause severe infection which inflicts heavy losses on beekeeping. The aim of this study is to detect six honey bee viruses: deformed wing virus (DWV), acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV), sacbrood virus (SBV), kashmir bee virus (KBV), and black queen cell virus (BQCV) by a Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). A total of 50 adult honey bee samples were obtained from apiaries situated in three different parts of the country (South, North and West Bulgaria).The results showed the highest prevalence of DWV (10/20 %), followed by SBV (6/12 %) and ABPV (2/4%), and one case of BQCV. A comparison with homology sequences available in GenBank was performed by phylogenetic analysis, and phylogenetic relationships were discussed in the context of newly described genotypes in the uninvestigated South Eastern region of Europe.In conclusion, the present study has been the first to provide sequencing data and phylogenetics analyses of some honey bee viruses in Bulgaria.

Author Comment

This is a submission to PeerJ for review.