Two More Small RNA Viruses from Honey Bees and Further Observations on Sacbrood and Acute Bee-Paralysis Viruses

Abstract

Summary Black queen-cell virus was isolated from dead prepupae and pupae of queens and workers of Apis mellifera found locally in the field. Kashmir bee virus was isolated from individuals of Apis mellifera that had died in the laboratory after they had been inoculated with some preparations from Apis cerana. Both viruses have isometric particles about 30 nm in diameter, contain RNA, and are unrelated to each other or to any known bee virus. Black queen-cell virus particles sediment at 151S and have a buoyant density in CsCl of 1.345 g/ml; Kashmir bee virus particles sediment at 171 to 173S and have a buoyant density in CsCl of 1.371 g/ml. Serological evidence indicates that black queen-cell virus is common in Britain and occurs in the U.S.A. The studies involved acute bee-paralysis and sacbrood viruses and led to re-determination of the buoyant densities of these as 1.380 and 1.358 g/ml respectively.