Pathogenic plant virus jumps to honeybees, may explain bee population declineA viral pathogen that typically infects plants has been found in honeybees and could help explain their decline. Researchers working in the U.S. and Beijing China report their findings in mBio the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.The routine screening of bees for frequent and rare viruses resulted in the serendipitous detection of Tobacco Ringspot Virus or TRSV and prompted an investigation into whether this plant-infecting virus could also cause systemic infection in the bees says Yan Ping Chen from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) laboratory in Beltsville Maryland an author on the study.The results of our study provide the first evidence that honeybees exposed to virus-contaminated pollen can also be infected and that the infection becomes widespread in their bodies says lead author Ji Lian Li at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science in Beijing.We already know that honeybees Apis melllifera can transmit TRSV when they move from flower to flower likely spreading the virus from one plant to another Chen adds.Notably about 5% of known plant viruses are pollen-transmitted and thus potential sources of host-jumping viruses. RNA viruses tend to be particularly dangerous because they lack the 3'-5' proofreading function which edits out errors in replicated genomes. As a result viruses such as TRSV generate a flood of variant copies with differing infective properties.One consequence of such high replication rates are populations of RNA viruses thought to exist as quasispecies clouds of genetically related variants that appear to work together to determine the pathology of their hosts. These sources of genetic diversity coupled with large population sizes further facilitate the adaption of RNA viruses to new selective conditions such as those imposed by novel hosts. Thus RNA viruses are a likely source of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases explain these researchers.Toxic viral cocktails appear to have a strong link with honey bee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) a mysterious malady that abruptly wiped out entire hives across the United States and was first reported in 2006. Israel Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV) Chronic Paralysis Virus (CPV) Kashmir Bee Virus (KBV) Deformed Wing Bee Virus (DWV) Black Queen Cell Virus (BQCV) and Sacbrood Virus (SBV) are other known causes of honeybee viral disease.When these researchers investigated bee colonies classified as strong or weak TRSV and other viruses were more common in the weak colonies than they were in the strong ones. Bee populations with high levels of multiple viral infections began failing in late fall and perished before February these researchers report. In contrast those in colonies with fewer viral assaults survived the entire cold winter months.TRSV was also detected inside the bodies of Varroa mites a vampire parasite that transmits viruses between bees while feeding on their blood. However unlike honeybees the mite-associated TRSV was restricted to their gastric cecum indicating that the mites likely facilitate the horizontal spread of TRSV within the hive without becoming diseased themselves. The fact that infected queens lay infected eggs convinced these scientists that TRSV could also be transmitted vertically from the queen mother to her offspring.The increasing prevalence of TRSV in conjunction with other bee viruses is associated with a gradual decline of host populations and supports the view that viral infections have a significant negative impact on colony survival these researchers conclude. Thus they call for increased surveillance of potential host-jumping events as an integrated part of insect pollinator management programs.Story Source:The above story is based on materials provided by American Society for Microbiology. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.Journal Reference: