Le virus d'aile Déformé: épidémimondiale récente chez les abeilles conduites par des mites Varroa

Deformed wing virus is a recent global epidemic in honeybees driven by Varroa mites

1. L. Wilfert¹,*,
2. G. Long²,
3. H. C. Leggett²,†,
4. P. Schmid-Hempel³,
5. R. Butlin²,
6. S. J. M. Martin⁴,
7. M. Boots¹,⁵

1. ¹Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn TR11 9FE, UK.
2. ²Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
3. ³Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
4. ⁴School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Manchester M5 4WT, UK.
5. ⁵Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

1. ↵*Corresponding author. E-mail: lena.wilfert@ex.ac.uk

• ↵† Present address: Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK.

Science  05 Feb 2016:
Vol. 351, Issue 6273, pp. 594-597

Varroa-vectored virus pandemic

Bees are facing several threats that are causing population collapses. Wilfert et al. found that European honey bees are the primary source of deformed wing virus (DWV) (see the Perspective by Villalobos). However, paradoxically, transmission between bees is inefficient. It seems that parasitic mites can facilitate virus transmission. European honeybees acquired the rapidly spreading Varroa mite from Asian honey bees, possibly via the commercial exchange of queens. Not only do bees suffer direct damage from the mites, but the bees are also efficiently inoculated with DWV.

Science, this issue p. 594; see also p. 554

Abstract

Deformed wing virus (DWV) and its vector, the mite Varroa destructor, are a major threat to the world’s honeybees. Although the impact of Varroa on colony-level DWV epidemiology is evident, we have little understanding of wider DWV epidemiology and the role that Varroa has played in its global spread. A phylogeographic analysis shows that DWV is globally distributed in honeybees, having recently spread from a common source, the European honeybee Apis mellifera. DWV exhibits epidemic growth and transmission that is predominantly mediated by European and North American honeybee populations and driven by trade and movement of honeybee colonies. DWV is now an important reemerging pathogen of honeybees, which are undergoing a worldwide manmade epidemic fueled by the direct transmission route that the Varroa mite provides.

 View Full Text

Source