A Diverse Viral Community from Predatory Wasps in Their Native and Invaded Range, with a New Virus Infectious to Honey Bees.

Emily J Remnant,Philip J Lester,Mariana Bulgarella,Oliver Quinn,Monica A M Gruber,Jana Dobelmann,James W Baty

doi:10.3390/v13081431

Emily J Remnant, Philip J Lester + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/v13081431

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Abstract

Wasps of the genus Vespula are social insects that have become major pests and predators in their introduced range. Viruses present in these wasps have been studied in the context of spillover from honey bees, yet we lack an understanding of the endogenous virome of wasps as potential reservoirs of novel emerging infectious diseases. We describe the characterization of 68 novel and nine previously identified virus sequences found in transcriptomes of Vespula vulgaris in colonies sampled from their native range (Belgium) and an invasive range (New Zealand). Many viruses present in the samples were from the Picorna-like virus family (38%). We identified one Luteo-like virus, Vespula vulgaris Luteo-like virus 1, present in the three life stages examined in all colonies from both locations, suggesting this virus is a highly prevalent and persistent infection in wasp colonies. Additionally, we identified a novel Iflavirus with similarity to a recently identified Moku virus, a known wasp and honey bee pathogen. Experimental infection of honey bees with this novel Vespula vulgaris Moku-like virus resulted in an active infection. The high viral diversity present in these invasive wasps is a likely indication that their polyphagous diet is a rich source of viral infections.

Highlights

Many of these viruses infect a wide variety of hosts, with a high risk of virus spillover and the potential for emerging infectious diseases among organisms in shared ecological space [8,9]
We report the identification of 68 novel virus sequences from a range of viral families, including one novel Luteo-like virus present in all colonies and life stages, and a novel Picorna-like virus similar to the previously identified Moku virus, a known multi-host pathogen identified in Vespids
We examine the host-specificity of this novel Moku-like virus in honey bees to assess the potential for viral spillover in our most important commercial pollinator

Summary

Introduction

The viromes of social insects are becoming increasingly well characterized with a recent focus on identification of novel viruses in honey bees and other pollinators [3,4,5,6,7]. Many of these viruses infect a wide variety of hosts, with a high risk of virus spillover and the potential for emerging infectious diseases among organisms in shared ecological space [8,9]

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