Biology subjects

Grozinger, C. M.

Publications and source records attributed to Grozinger, C. M..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2018

Haemolymph removal by the parasite Varroa destructor can trigger the proliferation of the Deformed Wing Virus in mite infested bees (Apis mellifera), contributing to enhanced pathogen virulence

The association between the Deformed Wing Virus and the parasitic mite Varroa destructor has been identified as a major cause of worldwide honey bee colony losses. The mite acts as a vector of the viral pathogen and can trigger its replication in infected bees. However, the mechanistic details underlying this tripartite interaction are still poorly defined, and, in particular, the causes of viral proliferation in mite infested bees.\n\nHere we develop and test a novel hypothesis - grounded in ecological predator-prey theory - that mite feeding destabilizes viral immune control through the removal of both viral prey and immune predators, triggering uncontrolled viral replication. Consistent with this hypothesis, we show that experimental removal of increasing volumes of haemolymph from individual bees results in increasing viral densities. In contrast, we find no support for alternative proposed mechanisms of viral expansion via mite immune-suppression or within-host viral evolution.\n\nOverall, these results provide a new model for the mechanisms driving pathogen-parasite interactions in bees, which ultimately underpin honey bee health decline and colony losses.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2018

Investigating the viral ecology of global bee communities with high-throughput metagenomics

Bee viral ecology is a fascinating emerging area of research: viruses exert a range of effects on their hosts, exacerbate the impacts of other environmental stressors, and, importantly, are readily shared across multiple bee species in a community. However, our understanding of bee viral communities is limited, as it is primarily derived from studies of North American and European Apis mellifera populations. Here, we examined viruses in populations of A. mellifera and 11 other bee species from 9 countries, across 5 continents and Oceania. We developed a novel pipeline to rapidly, inexpensively, and robustly screen for bee viruses. This pipeline includes purification of encapsulated RNA/DNA viruses, sequence-independent amplification, high throughput sequencing, integrated assembly of contigs, and filtering to identify contigs specifically corresponding to viral sequences. We identified sequences corresponding to (+)ssRNA, (-)ssRNA, dsRNA, and ssDNA viruses. Overall, we found 127 contigs corresponding to novel viruses (i.e. previously not observed in bees), with 29 represented by >0.1 % of the reads in a given sample. These viruses and viral families were distributed across multiple regions and species. This study provides a robust pipeline for metagenomics analysis of viruses, and greatly expands our understanding of the diversity of viruses found in bee communities.

genomics↗