Superinfection exclusion and the long-term survival of honey bees in Varroa-infested colonies

Mordecai, Gideon J; Brettell, Laura; Martin, Stephen J; Dixon, David; Jones, Ian M; Schroeder, Declan C

Abstract

Over the past 50 years, many millions of European honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies have died as the ectoparasitic mite, Varroa destructor, has spread around the world. Subsequent studies have indicated that the mite’s association with a group of RNA viral pathogens (Deformed Wing Virus, DWV) correlates with colony death. Here, we propose a phenomenon known as superinfection exclusion that provides an explanation of how certain A. mellifera populations have survived, despite Varroa infestation and high DWV loads. Next-generation sequencing has shown that a non-lethal DWV variant ‘type B’ has become established in these colonies and that the lethal ‘type A’ DWV variant fails to persist in the bee population. We propose that this novel stable host-pathogen relationship prevents the accumulation of lethal variants, suggesting that this interaction could be exploited for the development of an effective treatment that minimises colony losses in the future.

Citation

Mordecai, G. J., Brettell, L., Martin, S. J., Dixon, D., Jones, I. M., & Schroeder, D. C. (2016). Superinfection exclusion and the long-term survival of honey bees in Varroa-infested colonies. ISME Journal, 10(5), 1182-1191. https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2015.186

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 11, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Oct 27, 2015
• Publication Date: May 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Oct 28, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: The ISME Journal
• Print ISSN: 1751-7362
• Electronic ISSN: 1751-7370
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1182-1191
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2015.186
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2015.186
• Related Public URLs: http://www.nature.com/ismej/index.html
• Additional Information: Funders : C.B. Dennis British Beekeepers' Research Trust;Biotechnology and Biosciences Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); Projects : DWV-Varroa-honeybee interactions