Abstract
Information concerning the pathogenic role of honey bee viruses in invasive species are still scarce. The aim of this investigation was to assess the presence of several honey bee viruses, such as Black Queen Cell Virus (BQCV), Kashmir Bee Virus (KBV), Slow Paralysis Virus (SPV), Sac Brood Virus (SBV), Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV), Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus (CBPV), in Vespa velutina specimens collected in Italy during 2017. Results of this investigation indicate that among pathogens, replicative form of KBV and BQCV were detected, assessing the spillover effect of both these viruses from managed honey bees to hornets.
Highlights
The predatory activity of V. velutina is modulated by honey bees life cycle and carried out by catching the prey hovering in front of the beehive entrance[3,16]
No amplicons were detected for Sac Brood Virus (SBV), Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV), Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus (CBPV), Slow Paralysis Virus (SPV) major and SPV minor in all V. velutina specimens
Blast analysis on sequences obtained on Kashmir Bee Virus (KBV) and Black Queen Cell Virus (BQCV) positive amplicons performed on all PCR positive samples confirmed the specificity of the results (Tables 3 and 4)
Summary
The predatory activity of V. velutina is modulated by honey bees life cycle and carried out by catching the prey hovering in front of the beehive entrance[3,16]. Kashmir Bee Virus (KBV) is a positive sense ssRNA virus belonging to the Dicistroviridae family within the Cripavirus genus[18,19] This virus is genetically related to Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV)[20] and both can co-infect the same hive and the same bee[20,21]. Black Queen Cell Virus (BQCV), belongs to the same genus and family of KBV, it is responsible of the death of honey bee queen larvae and pupae in their cells[39,40]. The KBV infection in V. vulgaris enhances immune-related gene expression, which in colonies with low genetic diversity (low polyandry) determines smaller nest size and a reduced fitness[48,49,50]
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