Abstract
Abstract In recent years, increased deforestation and replacement of areas intended for intensive cultivation have caused pathogens and parasites of Apis mellifera bees to emerge in regions where they had not previously been reported. Such is the case of the advancement of Ascosphaera apis, a fungus that causes a drop in colonies’ bee larvae population and great economic losses to beekeeping activity during severe cases. In northern Argentina, few studies have focused on this important entomopathogen. This is the first study on A. apis isolated from commercial pollen in Entre Ríos, Jujuy, and Misiones provinces, where its prevalence in bee colonies has not been reported. We identified this entomopathogen using macroscopic, microscopic, and molecular analyses, focusing on its botanical origin as a possible transmission route. We found the pathogenicity of each strain in A. mellifera bees to below 30%. The results of this study contribute to the promotion of sanitary measures that may reduce this disease’s progression in local apiaries.
Highlights
Bees play an important ecological role worldwide since they pollinate numerous crops and wild plants and an economic role in agriculture
We isolated strains belonging to the genus Ascophaera from commercial pollen of three Argentinian provinces, where local circulation of the fungal strain identified as A. apis had not been reported
Commercial pollen subjected to different treatments after harvesting, in which it is dried at temperatures below 40-45oC, eliminates excess humidity (6 to 7%) and preserves the bromatological characteristics required for its commercialization (Aranda-Escribano et al, 1999; Baldi-Coronel et al, 2004)
Summary
Bees play an important ecological role worldwide since they pollinate numerous crops and wild plants and an economic role in agriculture. Sex spores (ascospores) are the main cause of infection for 3- and 4-day-old bee larvae because they remain viable for years (Aronstein & Murray, 2010; Albo et al, 2017) When they are ingested along with the food supplied by the nurse bees, they germinate and pass through the intestinal wall of the larvae, spread throughout the body, appear on the surface when the larva reaches the prepupal stage, and the fruiting bodies (sporocysts) develop and produce a new generation of ascospores (Bailey, 1981; Jensen et al, 2013; Maxfield-Taylor et al, 2015). The spores pass through the intestine due to the coordinated production of extracellular enzymes, which are secreted into the environment together with the mechanical pressure of the hyphae in the exoskeleton and/or the peritrophic membrane of the intestine
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