Meeting Abstract
Honey bees (Apis mellifera) provide an abundance of pollination services to both agricultural crops and wild plants. However, over the past several decades honey bee populations have been declining due to human land use changes, ectoparasites and fungal, bacterial and viral diseases. The ectoparasitic mite, Varroa destructor, has been a large contributor to honey bee decline, as it is known to transmit many viruses that ultimately contribute to colony loss. Although several viral pathogens have been identified as leading factors in colony loss, the etiology of these infections is largely unknown due to the lack of honey bee virus stocks and controlled viral infection studies. We investigated the use of cricket paralysis virus (CrPV) as part of a viral infection model in honey bees. CrPV is a dicistrovirus known to infect honey bees that is closely related to other virulent honey bee viruses. For the study, adult honey bee workers were divided into the following groups: No injection control, Vehicle injection control, CrPV, V. destructor protein extract, or V. destructor protein extract + CrPV. Bees were placed in screened, miniature wooden hives and monitored every 24 hrs for 5 days. Dead bees were collected and viral load was determined. CrPV was isolated from dead bees and patterns of viral infection in all CrPV groups was determined. This model system will improve our ability to study honey bee responses to viral infections, and increase our understanding of the involvement of V. destructor in honey bee viral infections.
