Carga y diversidad viral del virus de las alas deformes (DWV) en colonias de Apis mellifera infectadas naturalmente por Varroa destructor.

BRASESCO C; QUINTANA S; NEGRI P; MARÍN M; PAGNUCO I; MEDICI S; SZAWARSK N; RUFFINENGO S; EGUARAS M; MAGGI M

Encuentro; BER: X Encuentro Anual Biólogos en Red.; 2015

Transmission of viruses by Varroa destructor to bees has been identified as one of the main threats to the Apis mellifera colonies. Viruses are capable of replicating within the mites and consequently infect the bees with a high viral load, which is the case of the deformed wing virus (DWV). It has also been suggested that synergistic parasite-pathogen interaction mediated by A. mellifera immunity can drive the collapse of honey bee colonies. This study was conducted in bee samples with and without the phenotype of the DWV which were collected from hives with high V. destructor infestation. In bees with deformed wings we found an increase in DWV titre and low viral variant diversity.