Molecular characterization of Deformed wing viruses identified in honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies in Erzincan province of Turkey

Abstract

Deformed wing virus (DWV), which belongs to the Iflaviridae family, is a devastating virus causing severe financial losses in honey bee colonies all over the world. In 2020 (November), virus-suspected honey bee specimens collected from Erzincan province were screened by molecular assays against DWV infection. In 6 of 12 samples, an expected approximately 700 bp DNA bands were achieved, indicating probably virus-positive. Two randomly selected amplified DNA band suggesting the presence of the virus was further cloned into a pGEM-T Easy vector and electrically transformed into E. coli competent bacteria. Recombinant plasmids obtained from cloning were purified from E. coli and sequenced by next-generation sequencing (NGS). The partial nucleotide sequences of DWV were ascertained to contain 711 nucleotides and these sequences were recorded in the NCBI GenBank with MW962981 and MW962982 accession number. The highest sequence similarity of both isolates ranged from 98.03% to 98.17%, at the nucleotide level. Furthermore, phylogenetic relationships of Erzincan DWV sequences were revealed using 15 unique sequences from different ecological regions registered in the GenBank. Phylogenetic tree displayed that DWV Erzincan isolates are clustered with UK (HM067438), Spain (MK262743), and Sweden (MN746311) isolates. According to our best knowledge, DWV has been reported for the first time in the honey bees from Erzincan province of Turkey by this study.