Isolation, Screening and Characterization of the Viral Pathogens from Apis mellifera Colonies

Abstract

| Honeybees are the world’s most important pollinators of food crops. Honeybee plays an essential role in pollination of commercial crops. Some viral, bacterial, protozoan, and fungal pathogens are attached on the honeybees worldwide. These pathogens affect the honeybee population by creating disease in it, which also effect the economy of country. It destroys the honey production and causes a subsequent reduction in the crop yield. In this present work, we isolated and screened various honeybee pathogens i.e., Nosema apis, Nosema cerus, Acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), Black queen cell virus (BQCV), Sacbrood virus (SBV), Deformed wing virus (DWV), Kashmir bee virus (KBV), Black queen cell virus (BQCV), chronic bee paralysis virus (CBV) and Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV). For the pathogen screening, collection of guts from the diseased honeybee colonies was followed by RNA isolation. The RNAs were quantified on spectrophotometer. Results have shown the occurrence of fungus and/or pathogen infestation which was caused by microsporidium Nosema apis with 277bp. It has been observed that the honeybee colonies were badly affected due to Nosemosis disease which was caused by microsporidian fungus Nosema api s. This microsporidian fungus causes dysentery in the honeybees, may impede the survival rate of bees, and thus may further cause a subsequent reduction in the honey production and pollination rate which may ultimately cause the reduction in crop yield.