Abstract
Honeybee drones are male bees that mate with virgin queens during the mating flight, consequently transferring their genes to offspring. Therefore, the health of drones affects the overall fitness of the offspring and ultimately the survivability of the colony. Honeybee viruses are considered to be a major threat to the health of honeybees. In the present study, we demonstrated the pattern of common honeybee viruses in various tissues of drones in the western honeybee, Apis mellifera, and the eastern honeybee, Apis cerana. Drones were collected during the mating flight and analyzed using quantitative real-time (qRT-PCR) to detect the presence of seven honeybee viruses. The qRT-PCR result revealed that three honeybee viruses, namely Black Queen Cell Virus (BQCV), Deformed Wing Virus (DWV), and Chinese Sacbrood Virus (CSBV), were detected in the reproductive tissues of A. mellifera and A. cerana drones. The results from qRT-PCR showed that the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) was only detected in A. mellifera drone body tissues. Moreover, the prevalence of DWV and BQCV in the drones collected from A. mellifera colonies was significantly higher than that of A. cerana. In addition, virus multiple infections were higher in A. mellifera drones compared to those in A. cerana. CSBV was found predominantly in the reproductive tissues of A. cerana drones. This study is the first report describing the presence of the CSBV in reproductive tissues of A. mellifera drones. Our results may reflect the preference of honeybee viruses in honeybee species and may provide a piece of interesting evidence for understanding the virus transmission in A. cerana.
Highlights
Apis species are economically valuable pollinators of agricultural crops and are a source of honeybee products such as honey, pollen, royal jelly, wax, venom, and their larvae [1, 2]
Samples of A. cerana drones (n = 103) in managed hives were collected from five colonies in Miyun district (Latitude 40.614586, Longitude 117.04722), Beijing, China, and samples of A. mellifera drones (n = 116) from seven colonies were obtained at the Institute of Apicultural Research (Latitude 39.995372, Longitude 116.211416), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS), Beijing, China in 2016
Physical Fitness and Sperm Quantity of A. mellifera and A. cerana Drone Used in This Study
Summary
Apis species (the western honeybee, Apis mellifera, and the eastern honeybee, Apis cerana) are economically valuable pollinators of agricultural crops and are a source of honeybee products such as honey, pollen, royal jelly, wax, venom, and their larvae [1, 2]. Pathogens and parasites that cause infectious diseases have a major impact on the health of honeybees [5]. Deformed Wing Virus (DWV) infection causes wing deformity, Viral Infection in Honeybee Drones decreased body size, and a reduction in life span in adult honeybees [6, 7]. To increase the fitness of the colony, newly emerged queens mate with ∼15 drones [8, 9]. The natural mating process enables viral transmission through semen to the queen and the eggs, resulting in an infection in honeybee colonies and potentially their products [10,11,12,13,14]
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