Sacbrood Virus Research Articles

Breeding and Selection for Resistance to Sacbrood Virus for Apis cerana

South Korea has over 0.38 million of managed honey bee (Apis cerana) colonies before 2009 years ago, which produce the highest quantity of honey in the Korea; however, almost colony (90%) were collapsed by Korean Sacbrood Virus (KSBV) in South Korea. Korean Sacbrood Virus (KSBV) is the pathogen of A. cerana Sacbrood disease, which poses a serious threat to honeybee A. cerana, and tends to cause bee colony and even the whole apiary collapse. Colony collapse of A. cerana was first reported on the Pyeong-Chang of the South Korea in 2009. Several scientists and governments has been tried research for cure the sacbrood disease in A. cerana colony by medicines and management techniques. Unfortunately, The sacbrood disease dosen`t improve. So, we were developed a better breed of A. cerana for resistance of sacbrood virus by selection and than artificial insemination. A. cerana breeding technique was first successful applied with A. cerana in Korean. Queens was grafted from sacbrood resistance line and than it were growing in sacbrood disease colony that was survived 100%. Altogether selected 18 queens were artificially inseminated and 2,000 drones of A. cerana in Korea was used to evaluate amount of semen collection. We are select two scabrood resistance A. cerana line (R and H). R line be used for rearing the Queen. Drone was reared in H line colony. The RH hybrid were not infected sacbrood virus even spread sacbrood virus (2×10SUP6/SUP). RH colonies has very excellent hygienic behavior, brood, and sacbrood disease resistance activity.

High Level of Sequence-Variation in Sacbrood Virus (SBV) from Apis mellifera

Sacbrood virus (SBV) is one of the main pathogenic RNA viruses of honeybee. SBV is found worldwide and many local strains have been reported, such as kSBV, cSBV, and wSBV. In this study, SBV-specific DNA fragments were cloned and sequenced by reverse-transcription PCR from 4 populations of A. mellifera, 4 sequences from 1 population belonged to the 2134D51 genotype (349 nucleotides, nt) and 12 sequences from 3 populations belonged to the 2100D0 genotype (400 nt) among the 16 determined sequences. A total of 87 points of mismatches were found by comparison with the most similar sequences in GenBank. Seventeen single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) were detected, and 6 SNP-patterns in the 2100D0 genotype and 2 SNP-patterns in the 2134D51 genotype were identified based on SNP positions. In SNP-pattern 2, 10 SNPs were detected, but only 2 SNPs were found in SNP-pattern7. Meanwhile, one SNP-pattern was found from one RNAsample, multi SNP-patterns were detected from other RNA-samples. Large numbers of SNP variants indicate that vast numbers of point-mutations on SBV have occurred since SBV invaded Korea and that SNP smay have been introduced individually over time. Thorough analysis of SNP variants will not only define the local infection-route, but also the relationships between SNP-pattern and SBVpathogenic abilities.

Effect of Mixed Species with Apis mellifera and Apis cerana for Maintaining Temperature and Moisture in Same Hive

Beekeeping is an important industry in Korea. Sacbrood virus is the cause of sacbrood disease, the most important infectious disease in honeybee Apis cerana. Sacbrood disease can cause a collapse of a bee colony and even the whole apiary. Sacbrood disease was first reported in Korea in 2009. The occurrence of sacbrood disease symptom can be caused by several reasons such as genetic (immune system), climate change, weak colony etc. We have many experiences about the relation with climate conditions and sacbrood disease. The occurrence of sacbrood disease was defendant of humidity and temperature. Weak honeybee colony cannot resist the disease. In this study, we investigated the effects of mixing honeybee colonies of A. mellifera and A. cerana vis-`a-vis occurrence of sacbrood disease at different humidity and temperature. The mixed colony was consisted super hive (Top hive: A. cerana and bottom hive: A. mellifera). Our results of temperature and humidity variable in mixed colony were: am 9:00-35.3°C and 57.3%, pm 12:00-35.6°C and 52.3%, pm 15:00-35.8°C and 50.3%, pm 18:00-35.7 and 50.5%, respectably. Single species colonies were destroyed by scabrood virus (SBV). So, Heat stress and humidity variable, A. cerana colonies are more sensitive and initiate fanning of hive earlier than after mixing them with A. mellifera mixed colonies. Our data show a strong impact of environment on the development of colonies. The results further suggest that in A. mellifera colony can be helped benefited by A. cerana colony which controls hive temperature and humidity.

Prevalence of common honey bee pathogens at selected apiaries in Kenya, 2013/2014

AbstractThe present study was part of a larger surveillance effort to identify the determinants of African honey bee health, and, particularly, to detect honey bee pathogens across Kenya, where 160 colonies were examined from 32 apiaries (five colonies/apiary). From each colony, 20 individual foragers, nurse bees, worker pupae, and drone pupae were sampled separately. These were organized as 30 foragers, 32 nurse bees, 28 worker pupae, and 10 drone pupae pools. Nucleic acid was extracted from the pooled homogenates and tested using a panel of 18 different (RT-)PCR methods targeted at detectingPaenibacillus larvae,Melissococcus plutonius,Ascophaera apis,Aspergillusspp.,Nosema ceranae, N. apis,Deformed wing virus(DWV),Varroa destructor virus 1(VDV 1),Acute bee paralysis virus(ABPV),Sacbrood virus(SBV),Israeli acute paralysis virus(IAPV),Black queen cell virus(BQCV),Chronic bee paralysis virus(CBPV), andKashmir bee virus. All amplified bands were sequenced and compared to the GenBank database. VDV 1 was the most abundant virus at 50% prevalence in the 100 bee pools. It was closely followed by DWV at 44%. The others were BQCV (36%), SBV (14%), IAPV (9%), ABPV (8%), andN. ceranae(5%). The pathogens co-existed within apiaries. VDV 1 was present in 66% of the apiaries, DWV in 69%, BQCV in 69%, SBV in 28%, IAPV in 22%, ABPV in 19%, andN. ceranaein 13%. The study concludes that these pathogens should be incorporated in honey bee disease surveillance activities in the region.

Co-occurrence of RNA viruses in Tasmanian-introduced bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) and honey bees (Apis mellifera)

A number of bee RNA viruses, including Deformed wing virus (DWV), are so far unreported from Australia. These viruses can be introduced together with imported live honey bees (Apis mellifera) and their products, with other bee species, and bee parasites. Given that bee viruses have a profound impact on bee health, it is surprising that since the introduction of bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) onto Tasmania in 1992 from New Zealand, no work has been done to investigate which RNA viruses are associated with these bees. Consequently, we investigate the current prevalence of RNA viruses in B. terrestris and A. mellifera collected in south-eastern Tasmania. We did not find DWV in either A. mellifera and B. terrestris. However, both bee species shared Kashmir bee virus (KBV) and Sacbrood virus (SBV), but Black queen cell virus (BQCV) was detected only in A. mellifera. This reinforces the importance of ongoing strong regulation of the anthropogenic movement of live bees and their products.

Chinese sacbrood virus infection in Apis mellifera, Shandong, China, 2016

The Chinese sacbrood virus (CSBV) was first isolated from Apis cerana in 1972. However, the biological characteristics of the CSBV that naturally infects Apis mellifera, causing larval death, have not been reported yet. In the present study, natural CSBV infection was evaluated using clinical symptoms of A. mellifera larvae, RT-PCR, electron microscopy, agar gel immunodiffusion assays, and virus analysis in inoculated A. cerana larvae. The isolated CSBV strain was named AmCSBV-SDLY-2016. Subsequently, AmCSBV-SDLY-2016 was analyzed by constructing a phylogenetic tree using VP1. Data from the phylogenetic tree suggested that AmCSBV-SDLY-2016 is evolutionarily close to JLCBS-2014. It was also observed that CSBV crossed the species barrier, causing the death of A. mellifera larvae.

Chinese Sacbrood virus infection in Asian honey bees (Apis cerana cerana) and host immune responses to the virus infection.

Chinese Sacbrood virus (CSBV) is a positive-stranded RNAvirus that infects both the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) and the Asian honey bee (A. cerana). However, CSBV has much more devastating effects on Asian honey bees than on European honey bees, posing a serious threat to the agricultural and natural ecosystems that rely on A. cerana for pollination service. Using quantitative RT-PCR method, we conducted studies to examine the CSBV infection in Asian honey bee colonies and immune responses of individual bees in response to CSBV infection. Our study showed that CSBV could cause infection in different developmental stages of workers including eggs, larvae, pupae, newly emerged workers, and foraging workers. In addition, evaluating the tissue tropism and transmission of CSBV in infected bees showed that CSBV was detected in the ovaries, spermatheca, and feces of queens as well as semen of drones of the same colonies, suggesting an existence of vertical transmission of CSBV in Asian honey bees. Further, the detection of CSBV in colony food suggests that healthy bees could pick the infection by the virus-contaminated food, and therefore, a possible existence of a food-borne transmission pathway of CSBV in Asian bee colonies. The expression analysis of transcripts (defensin, abaecin, apidaecin, and hymenoptaecin) involving innate antiviral immune pathways showed that CSBV infection could induce significant immune responses in infected bees. However, the immune responses to CSBV infection varied among different development stages with eggs exhibiting the lowest level of immune expression and forager workers exhibiting the highest level of immune gene expression. The results obtained in the study yield important insights into the mechanisms underlying disease pathogenesis of CSBV infections in Asian honey bees and provide valuable information for a rational design of disease control measures.

Viral and intestinal diseases detected in Apis mellifera in Central and Southern Chile

The honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) is an important pollinator worldwide. Beekeepers have experienced an increasing loss of colonies in recent years and pathologies including viruses and intestinal parasites such as Nosema ceranae are among those held responsible for this decline. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and distribution, using the real time PCR method, of six honeybee viruses including Deformed Wing Virus (DWV), Black Queen Cell Virus (BQCV), Sacbrood Virus (SBV), Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV), Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus (CBPV) and Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) in addition to three intestinal parasites, N. ceranae, N. apis and Lotmaria passim in Chilean beehives distributed between the Metropolitan Region and La Araucania Region. Among the viruses, BQCV was the most prevalent in the analyzed hives, ranging from 72% to 100%, N. ceranae was detected between 19% to 53% and L. passim showed infections ranging from 45% to 73%. Similarly, BQCV (96%) and N. ceranae (42%) were more prevalent in spring-summer whilst DWV (37%) and L. passim (68%) were more frequents in autumn-winter seasons. Furthermore, mixed infections were also detected, wherein viruses were found along with L. passim or viruses with N. ceranae and L. passim, which proved to be the most prevalent. Of the 467 hives analyzed, 97.2% were infected with one or more of the studied pathogens, indicating that they are widely spread in Chile.

Absence of deformed wing virus and Varroa destructor in Australia provides unique perspectives on honeybee viral landscapes and colony losses

Honeybee (Apis mellifera) health is threatened globally by the complex interaction of multiple stressors, including the parasitic mite Varroa destructor and a number of pathogenic viruses. Australia provides a unique opportunity to study this pathogenic viral landscape in the absence of V. destructor. We analysed 1,240A. mellifera colonies across Australia by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and next-generation sequencing (NGS). Five viruses were prevalent: black queen cell virus (BQCV), sacbrood virus (SBV), Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) and the Lake Sinai viruses (LSV1 and LSV2), of which the latter three were detected for the first time in Australia. We also showed several viruses were absent in our sampling, including deformed wing virus (DWV) and slow bee paralysis virus (SBPV). Our findings highlight that viruses can be highly prevalent in A. mellifera populations independently of V. destructor. Placing these results in an international context, our results support the hypothesis that the co-pathogenic interaction of V. destructor and DWV is a key driver of increased colony losses, but additional stressors such as pesticides, poor nutrition, etc. may enable more severe and frequent colony losses to occur.

The first comprehensive molecular detection of six honey bee viruses in Iran in 2015-2016

At least 18 viruses have been reported in the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.). However, severe diseases in honey bees are mainly caused by six viruses, and these are the most important in beekeeping. These viruses include: deformed wing virus (DWV), acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV), sacbrood virus (SBV), kashmir bee virus (KBV), and black queen cell virus (BQCV). In this study, we evaluated 89 Iranian honey bee apiaries (during the period 2015-2016) suffering from symptoms of depopulation, sudden collapse, paralysis, or dark coloring, by employing reverse transcription-PCR. Samples were collected from four regions (Mazandaran, Hormozgan, Kurdistan, and Khorasan Razavi) of Iran. Of the 89 apiaries examined, 16 (17.97%), three (3.37%), and three (3.37%) were infected by DWV, ABPV, and CBPV, respectively. The study results for the other viruses (SBV, KBV, and BQCV) were negative. The present study evaluated the presence of the six most important honey bee viruses in bee colonies with suspected infections, and identified remarkable differences in the distribution patterns of the viruses in different geographic regions of Iran.

Viruses of managed alfalfa leafcutting bees (Megachille rotundata Fabricus) and honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) in Western Canada: Incidence, impacts, and prospects of cross-species viral transmission

We examined whether alfalfa leafcutting bees (ALCB, Megachille rotundata) experienced a higher incidence of seven viruses commonly found honey bees (Apis mellifera) when placed alongside honey bees for hybrid canola seed pollination. Although two viruses – sacbrood virus (SBV) and deformed wing virus (DWV) – were detected in ALCB adults, their presence appeared independent of whether honey bees were present in the same field or not. A further survey of viruses among ALCB adults in three different alfalfa seed growing regions in Western Canada confirmed the ubiquity of sacbrood virus (SBV) as well as the infrequent presence of acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), both of which had not been previously reported on ALCB. Moreover, SBV and ABPV were detected in the cocoon stage and only in one region. Co-infection among pools of ALCB adults with both of these viruses was more closely correlated with decreasing levels of cocoon viability than infection levels in cocoons themselves. This research suggests ongoing viral transmission between honey bees and ALCB in the same fields is likely low but that co-infection with these viruses may lower ALCB productivity.

Phylogenetic analysis and survey of Apis cerana strain of Sacbrood virus (AcSBV) in Taiwan suggests a recent introduction

The Sacbrood virus (SBV) is widely distributed in European honey bees, Apis mellifera. AcSBV, a distinct SBV strain in Asian honey bees (A. cerana) causes larva death before pupation and often depopulates colonies, leading to collapse. It is the most severe disease in A. cerana beekeeping. AcSBV infects A. cerana in most natural habitats, yet occurrences were not reported in Taiwan before 2015 and were not a concern for local beekeepers. However, in 2016, A. cerana beekeepers in central Taiwan reported SBV-like symptoms. We screened samples of larvae using RT-PCR and surveyed asymptomatic apiaries in north Taiwan. Phylogenetic analyses suggested that AcSBV isolates from central Taiwan were introduced; all isolates had high similarity in sequences to AcSBV genomes identified in mainland China, Vietnam, and Korea and distinct differences to SBV sequence identified in Taiwan. The overall prevalence in symptomatic colonies was low. No latent infections were detected in asymptomatic colonies. The AcSBV epizootic may not yet have reached its highest potential.

ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile: Iflaviridae.

Iflaviridae is a family of small non-enveloped viruses with monopartite, positive-stranded RNA genomes of approximately 9–11 kilobases. Viruses of all classified species infect arthropod hosts, with the majority infecting insects. Both beneficial and pest insects serve as hosts, and infections can be symptomless (Nilaparvatalugens honeydew virus 1) or cause developmental abnormalities (deformed wing virus), behavioural changes (sacbrood virus) and premature mortality (infectious flacherie virus). The host range has not been examined for most members. The most common route of infection for iflaviruses is the ingestion of virus-contaminated food sources. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the taxonomy of the Iflaviridae, which is available at www.ictv.global/report/iflaviridae.

Inside Honeybee Hives: Impact of Natural Propolis on the Ectoparasitic Mite Varroa destructor and Viruses.

Social immunity is a key factor for honeybee health, including behavioral defense strategies such as the collective use of antimicrobial plant resins (propolis). While laboratory data repeatedly show significant propolis effects, field data are scarce, especially at the colony level. Here, we investigated whether propolis, as naturally deposited in the nests, can protect honeybees against ectoparasitic mites Varroa destructor and associated viruses, which are currently considered the most serious biological threat to European honeybee subspecies, Apis mellifera, globally. Propolis intake of 10 field colonies was manipulated by either reducing or adding freshly collected propolis. Mite infestations, titers of deformed wing virus (DWV) and sacbrood virus (SBV), resin intake, as well as colony strength were recorded monthly from July to September 2013. We additionally examined the effect of raw propolis volatiles on mite survival in laboratory assays. Our results showed no significant effects of adding or removing propolis on mite survival and infestation levels. However, in relation to V. destructor, DWV titers increased significantly less in colonies with added propolis than in propolis-removed colonies, whereas SBV titers were similar. Colonies with added propolis were also significantly stronger than propolis-removed colonies. These findings indicate that propolis may interfere with the dynamics of V. destructor-transmitted viruses, thereby further emphasizing the importance of propolis for honeybee health.

Selection of the cell culture to accumulate in vitro the sacbrood virus of bees

Bees, like other living organisms are exposed to various pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, protozoans, parasites and viruses. Viruses are of particular threat to beekeeping. Some diseases caused by viruses that lead to the collapse of the bee colonies, which leads to loss of a huge number of bees and it causes a recession in the industry. One of the major bees diseases caused by viruses is a sacculated brood. This pathology causes significant damage to beekeeping, because sick families without assistance does not give the commodity honey and not able to provide themselves food, then farms lose the opportunity to sell queens and bee packages. Problem of prompt diagnosis is inaccessibility of bees culturing cells method in vitro virus, which is why understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying viral diseases is limited. These difficulties in the virologists works leads to late diagnosis of disease and as a result, there are large losses in farms. Currently, there is very little information about the cultivation of viruses bees on heterogeneous cell cultures, which give after passage of the pathogen any degenerative changes. However, in last few years there is an active debate on the cultivation of bees viruses in cell cultures. It is known that the highest sensitivity to the saccular brood virus are explants of ovarian nymphs queens bees, chick fibroblast culture, bee fibroblasts tissue of the pectoral muscles of adult bees, culture of the tissue reproductive organs, muscle and egg bee primary trypsinized culture of monkey kidney, primary cell culture, obtained from the larvae of worker bees, culture PC-15, IBRS-2. The major problem of cultivation of bees viruses - a small amount of data on heterologous type of sensitive cell cultures. However, research in this area continues, and scientists around the world are trying to solve a serious problem of cultivation of bee viruses.

대전광역시 양봉농가의 꿀벌질병 감염률 조사

This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of honey bee (Apis mellifera) disease in Daejeon. From May to September in 2014, 63 samples were collected from 63 apiculture farms in the regions and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was conducted. A total of 11 infectious pathogens, including 6 virus, 2 bacteria, 2 fungi, and 1 parasite, were investigated in honeybee colonies suffering from symptom of sudden collapse, depopulation or paralysis. The infectious pathogens and infection rates among 63 honeybee colonies detected were as follows: sacbrood virus (12.7%), chronic bee paralysis virus (1.6%), stonebrood (11.1%), American foulbrood (19.0%), European foulbrood (6.3%), respectively. The result indicate that foul-brood was most prevalent disease in apiculture farms in Daejeon area.

Unbiased RNA Shotgun Metagenomics in Social and Solitary Wild Bees Detects Associations with Eukaryote Parasites and New Viruses.

The diversity of eukaryote organisms and viruses associated with wild bees remains poorly characterized in contrast to the well-documented pathosphere of the western honey bee, Apis mellifera. Using a deliberate RNA shotgun metagenomic sequencing strategy in combination with a dedicated bioinformatics workflow, we identified the (micro-)organisms and viruses associated with two bumble bee hosts, Bombus terrestris and Bombus pascuorum, and two solitary bee hosts, Osmia cornuta and Andrena vaga. Ion Torrent semiconductor sequencing generated approximately 3.8 million high quality reads. The most significant eukaryote associations were two protozoan, Apicystis bombi and Crithidia bombi, and one nematode parasite Sphaerularia bombi in bumble bees. The trypanosome protozoan C. bombi was also found in the solitary bee O. cornuta. Next to the identification of three honey bee viruses Black queen cell virus, Sacbrood virus and Varroa destructor virus-1 and four plant viruses, we describe two novel RNA viruses Scaldis River bee virus (SRBV) and Ganda bee virus (GABV) based on their partial genomic sequences. The novel viruses belong to the class of negative-sense RNA viruses, SRBV is related to the order Mononegavirales whereas GABV is related to the family Bunyaviridae. The potential biological role of both viruses in bees is discussed in the context of recent advances in the field of arthropod viruses. Further, fragmentary sequence evidence for other undescribed viruses is presented, among which a nudivirus in O. cornuta and an unclassified virus related to Chronic bee paralysis virus in B. terrestris. Our findings extend the current knowledge of wild bee parasites in general and addsto the growing evidence of unexplored arthropod viruses in valuable insects.

Prevalence of bee viruses among Apis cerana populations in Vietnam

We studied the prevalence and distribution of seven honey bee viruses, namely: acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV); cloudy wing virus (CWV); Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV); Kashmir bee virus (KBV); sacbrood virus (SBV); black queen cell virus (BQCV); and deformed wing virus (DWV), in healthy colonies from ten provinces in Vietnam. Colonies from each apiary were randomly selected to check viral infection. To confirm virus infection, samples were tested by Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction using specific primer pairs. The positive products were sequenced and compared with the reference sequences using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool for molecular confirmation. In 360 Apis cerana samples, we found that the most prevalent virus was SBV (in 18.33% of samples), followed by BQCV (6.11%) and DWV (3.33%). The other four viruses, ABPV, CWV, IAPV, and KBV, were not detected in any sample. Infection rates were higher in adult bees than in larvae. The prevalences of SBV, BQCV, and DWV were 25.00, 10.56, and 6.11% in adult bees, and 11.67, 1.11, and 0.56% in larvae, respectively. The occurrence of BQCV and DWV varied across geographic regions. BQCV occurred mainly in the northern provinces, while DWV was predominant in the southern provinces. SBV, however, was found in all sampled provinces and exhibited similar infection rates. In adult bees, co-infection rates of BQCV with SBV or DWV were 2.22 and 0.60%, respectively.

Prevalence of honeybee viruses in different regions of China and Argentina.

Honeybees are threatened by various pathogens and parasites. More than 18 viruses have been described in honeybees and many of them have been detected in China and Argentina. In China, both Apis cerana and Apis mellifera are raised. In Argentina, beekeepers raise different ecotypes of A. mellifera: European honeybees (in both temperate and subtropical regions) and Africanised honeybees (in subtropical areas only). A thorough study was carried out in both China and Argentina to analyse the current virus presence and distribution in different climatic zones and gather information on different bee species/subspecies. Adult honeybees were collected from apiaries in temperate and subtropical regions of China (including areas with exclusive populations of A. mellifera, areas where A. mellifera and A. cerana co-exist, and areas with exclusive populations of A. cerana) and Argentina. Six viruses, namely, deformed wing virus (DWV), black queen cell virus (BQCV), sacbrood virus (SBV), chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV), acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV) and Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) were detected in China, both in A. cerana and in A. mellifera, while four viruses (DWV, BQCV, CBPV and ABPV) were present in Argentina. Interestingly, multiple infections were commonly found in China, with up to five different viruses co-circulating in some colonies without apparent abnormalities. In this study, no Chinese samples were positive for slow bee paralysis virus. The most prevalent viruses were BQCV (China) and DWV (Argentina). Kashmir bee virus was absent from samples analysed for both countries.

Differential gene expressions of innate immune related genes of the Asian honeybee, Apis cerana, latently infected with sacbrood virus

The Asian honeybee, Apis cerana, is a native honeybee species in Korea which is important in agriculture for pollination and honey production. Since 2009, A. cerana in Korea has been endangered because of the outbreak of sacbrood virus (SBV) disease which caused serious colony loss. SBV belongs to the genus Iflavirus, and infects the honeybee larvae specifically to cause larval death. For better understanding of the molecular biological aspects of the viral pathogen and insect host, the A. cerana larvae latently infected with SBV virus (AcSBV) and control (AcCtrl) were subjected to high-throughput transcriptome sequencing to compare the gene expression profiles. 101 base paired-end Illumina sequencing generated a total of 211,850,996 and 231,925,174 clean reads from AcSBV and AcCtrl, corresponding to 17.4 Gb and 18.7 Gb of nucleotides, respectively. An in silico cDNA library was constructed by Trinity de novo assembler and TGICL clustering program to make a reference cDNA library containing 67,750 contigs. The quality-filtered Illumina short reads were mapped to the cDNA library, and the top 20,000 of the most frequently mapped contigs by the Bowtie2 program were subjected to the ImmunoDB database to annotate insect innate immune-related genes. The genes with expression levels which were two fold higher or lower in AcSBV compared to the AcCtrl, overall a total of 20 contigs were identified and annotated to demonstrate that the latent infection of SBV affects expression pattern of innate immune-related genes.