Ten years of Deformed Wing Virus (DWV) in Hawaiian honey bees (Apis mellifera), the dominant DWV-A variant is potentially being replaced by variants with a DWV-B coding sequence

Grindrod, IR, Kevill, JL, Villalobos, EM ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3902-8989, Schroeder, DC ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5991-2838 and Martin, SJ ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9418-053X 2021, 'Ten years of Deformed Wing Virus (DWV) in Hawaiian honey bees (Apis mellifera), the dominant DWV-A variant is potentially being replaced by variants with a DWV-B coding sequence' , Viruses, 13 (6) , e969.

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Abstract

The combination of Deformed wing virus (DWV) and Varroa destructor is arguably one of the greatest threats currently facing western honey bees, Apis mellifera. Varroa’s association with DWV has decreased viral diversity and increased loads of DWV within honey bee populations. Nowhere has this been better studied than in Hawaii, where the arrival of Varroa progressively led to the dominance of the single master variant (DWV-A) on both mite-infested Hawaiian Islands of Oahu and Big Island. Now, exactly 10 years following the original study, we find that the DWV population has changed once again, with variants containing the RdRp coding sequence pertaining to the master variant B beginning to co-dominate alongside variants with the DWV-A RdRp sequence on the mite-infested islands of Oahu and Big Island. In speculation, based on other studies, it appears this could represent a stage in the journey towards the complete dominance of DWV-B, a variant that appears better adapted to be transmitted within honey bee colonies.

Item Type:	Article
Contributors:	Abd-Alla, A (Editor), Boucias, DG (Editor) and Ros, VID (Editor)
Additional Information:	** From MDPI via Jisc Publications Router ** Licence for this article: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ **Journal IDs: eissn 1999-4915 **History: published 24-05-2021; accepted 21-05-2021
Schools:	Schools > School of Environment and Life Sciences
Journal or Publication Title:	Viruses
Publisher:	MDPI
ISSN:	1999-4915
Related URLs:	Publication
Funders:	Bee Disease Insurance, CB Dennis Trust
SWORD Depositor:	Publications Router
Depositing User:	Publications Router
Date Deposited:	26 May 2021 12:14
Last Modified:	16 Feb 2022 07:12
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/60396

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