Abstract
Article History A reliable procedure for early detection of Paenibacillus larvae subsp. larvae (P. l. larvae), the causal agent of American Foulbrood disease (AFB) of honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subspecies - specific KAT primers. A PCR amplicon of the expected size 550 bp only found in P. l. larvae strains was used for positive AFB. This PCR assay provides a specific detection for P. l. larvae from week 1 post infection even if there is no clinical symptoms appeared in a colony. The technique can be directly used to detect presence or absence of P. l. larvae spores in honeybee samples and contaminated honeys.
Highlights
The honeybees Apis mellifera is an extremely beneficial insect due to its role in pollination and for its products
Clinical symptoms were observed in the weekly inspections
Spores from P. larvae can be isolated from honey, wax, pollen, and hive walls (Gochnauer, 1981)
Summary
The honeybees Apis mellifera is an extremely beneficial insect due to its role in pollination and for its products (honey, wax, probolis, pollens and venom). The most common bacterial disease which is lethal at the honeybees' larval stages, is the American foulbrood (AFB) disease. It is caused by an endospore-forming, Gram-positive rod-shaped bacterium, P. l. Larvae, that infects young larvae through ingestion of contaminated food (Shimanuki, 1997). AFB is the most virulent brood disease known in honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). It is one of the few bee diseases capable of killing a colony and possess unique problems for prevention and control because the bacterial spores can remain viable for long periods of time (35 years or more) and survive adverse conditions (Matheson and Reid, 1992)
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