Colonisation Patterns of Nosema ceranae in the Azores Archipelago

Lopes, Ana Rita; Martín-Hernández, Raquel; Higes, Mariano; Segura, Sara Kafafi; Henriques, Dora; Pinto, M. Alice

doi:10.3390/vetsci9070320

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 76 publications

(108 reference statements)

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“…Our survey revealed a rather unique and heterogenous viral landscape, with viruses occurring on every island (BQCV, LSV), viruses occurring on some of the islands (CBPV, SBV), and viruses that were not detected at all (BeeMLV and the AKI complex: ABPV, KBV, IAPV). This finding complements previous reports on the same colonies, which identified islands devoid of two of the most harmful honey bee pathogens: DWV (Terceira and São Jorge; [ 46 ]) and the Microsporidia Nosema ceranae (Santa Maria and Flores; [ 57 ]). While the virulence of BeeMLV is unknown [ 31 ], N .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Varroa is now present on all continents where honey bees thrive, including Australia, where it entered in 2022 [ 56 ]. There are only a few places in the world that remain naïve to Varroa , including on six of the nine islands of the Azores [ 57 ]. This remote Atlantic archipelago offers a rare opportunity to investigate the intricate dynamics between Varroa and honey bee viruses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Varroa destructor shapes the unique viral landscapes of the honey bee populations of the Azores archipelago

Lopes,

Low,

Martín-Hernández

et al. 2024

PLoS Pathog

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The worldwide dispersal of the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor from its Asian origins has fundamentally transformed the relationship of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) with several of its viruses, via changes in transmission and/or host immunosuppression. The extent to which honey bee-virus relationships change after Varroa invasion is poorly understood for most viruses, in part because there are few places in the world with several geographically close but completely isolated honey bee populations that either have, or have not, been exposed long-term to Varroa, allowing for separate ecological, epidemiological, and adaptive relationships to develop between honey bees and their viruses, in relation to the mite’s presence or absence. The Azores is one such place, as it contains islands with and without the mite. Here, we combined qPCR with meta-amplicon deep sequencing to uncover the relationship between Varroa presence, and the prevalence, load, diversity, and phylogeographic structure of eight honey bee viruses screened across the archipelago. Four viruses were not detected on any island (ABPV-Acute bee paralysis virus, KBV-Kashmir bee virus, IAPV-Israeli acute bee paralysis virus, BeeMLV-Bee macula-like virus); one (SBV-Sacbrood virus) was detected only on mite-infested islands; one (CBPV-Chronic bee paralysis virus) occurred on some islands, and two (BQCV-Black queen cell virus, LSV-Lake Sinai virus,) were present on every single island. This multi-virus screening builds upon a parallel survey of Deformed wing virus (DWV) strains that uncovered a remarkably heterogeneous viral landscape featuring Varroa-infested islands dominated by DWV-A and -B, Varroa-free islands naïve to DWV, and a refuge of the rare DWV-C dominating the easternmost Varroa-free islands. While all four detected viruses investigated here were affected by Varroa for one or two parameters (usually prevalence and/or the Richness component of ASV diversity), the strongest effect was observed for the multi-strain LSV. Varroa unambiguously led to elevated prevalence, load, and diversity (Richness and Shannon Index) of LSV, with these results largely shaped by LSV-2, a major LSV strain. Unprecedented insights into the mite-virus relationship were further gained from implementing a phylogeographic approach. In addition to enabling the identification of a novel LSV strain that dominated the unique viral landscape of the easternmost islands, this approach, in combination with the recovered diversity patterns, strongly suggests that Varroa is driving the evolutionary change of LSV in the Azores. This study greatly advances the current understanding of the effect of Varroa on the epidemiology and adaptive evolution of these less-studied viruses, whose relationship with Varroa has thus far been poorly defined.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Varroa destructor shapes the unique viral landscapes of the honey bee populations of the Azores archipelago

Lopes,

Low,

Martín-Hernández

et al. 2024

PLoS Pathog

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“…All the apiaries except São Miguel contained positive colonies at the beginning of the study. The São Miguel apiary was negative, although there is a history of N. ceranae presence on the island [55]. The colonies of the six apiaries were monitored for 20 months.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiology of the Microsporidium Nosema ceranae in Four Mediterranean Countries

Jabal-Uriel

Barrios

Dalmon

et al. 2022

Insects

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Nosema ceranae is a highly prevalent intracellular parasite of honey bees’ midgut worldwide. This Microsporidium was monitored during a long-term study to evaluate the infection at apiary and intra-colony levels in six apiaries in four Mediterranean countries (France, Israel, Portugal, and Spain). Parameters on colony strength, honey production, beekeeping management, and climate were also recorded. Except for São Miguel (Azores, Portugal), all apiaries were positive for N. ceranae, with the lowest prevalence in mainland France and the highest intra-colony infection in Israel. A negative correlation between intra-colony infection and colony strength was observed in Spain and mainland Portugal. In these two apiaries, the queen replacement also influenced the infection levels. The highest colony losses occurred in mainland France and Spain, although they did not correlate with the Nosema infection levels, as parasitism was low in France and high in Spain. These results suggest that both the effects and the level of N. ceranae infection depends on location and beekeeping conditions. Further studies on host-parasite coevolution, and perhaps the interactions with other pathogens and the role of honey bee genetics, could assist in understanding the difference between nosemosis disease and infection, to develop appropriate strategies for its control.

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“…Molecular analysis was performed to assess the presence of both N. apis and N. ceranae in 474 honey bee colonies across the Azores during the years 2014-2015. Subsequent spatiotemporal analysis until 2020 revealed the rapid expansion of N. ceranae in all islands in the archipelago, with the exception of Flores and Santa Maria, where the apiaries remained unaffected by either Nosema species [7].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%