Phylogenetic analysis of deformed wing virus, black queen cell virus and acute bee paralysis viruses in Turkish honeybee colonies

Abstract

Viruses are chiefly responsible for colony losses globally, and deformed wing virus (DWV), black queen cell virus (BQCV), and acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV) are the most common viral infections in honeybee colonies. As Turkey ranks third in the world in terms of bee colonies, honeybees are of great ecological and economic importance. Thus, the aim of this study was to conduct a phylogenetic analysis of DWV, BQCV, and ABPV, all of which were detected in the southern city of Burdur, which is located along the route that migratory bees take and is a dwelling place for them. Phylogenetic trees were constructed for DWV, BQCV, and ABPV partial nucleotide sequences of the RNA helicase region, the structural polypeptide coding region, and the capsid protein region, respectively. Burdur DWV1 and DWV14 isolates were highly conserved, with 99-100% similarity, and they also shared 93-100% similarity with isolates from Europe and Korea. The two Burdur DWVs had 98% similarity. The DWV1 genome was more similar to the other Turkish isolates than the DWV14. Burdur BQCV2 and BQCV19 isolates, which were highly conserved with 97-99% similarity, formed the same cluster with other Turkish isolates but excluding the Turkey Koycegiz isolate. Burdur ABPV isolates were highly conserved with 99% similarity. Although they showed 94-97% similarity with other European isolates, they were in the same cluster as Turkish isolates. Thus, it was found that although the DWV, BQCV, and ABPV isolates obtained as a result of the present study were highly conserved, they showed differences in relation to the DWV, BWCV, and ABPV isolates that were isolated from different geographical regions.