New findings about the deformed wing virus, a major factor in honey bee colony mortality

November 11, 2016

In recent years, massive losses of honey bee colonies have occurred during winter in Europe and North America. It could be shown that the Varroa mite and the deformed wing virus are the main factors responsible for the alarming bee mortality. Researchers from the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna have succeeded for the first time in simulating the course of disease using artificial genetic material of the virus. The symptoms of the so-called mite disease were reproduced in the laboratory without mites by the injection of synthetic RNA. This enabled the prudent development of new strategies in order to protect the bee population in the future. The results were published in the journal PLOS ONE. 

The honey bee Apis mellifera plays an important role for the pollination of fruit and vegetable plants, besides its significance for the production of honey and wax. Losses of entire bee colonies during winter have economic and – in particular – ecological consequences as pollinators are missing in spring during blossom. Apiculture in North America and Europe is especially affected by partly massive losses. Only during the winter months of 2014/2015, up to fifty per cent of all bee colonies in some Austrian regions collapsed.

The main trigger of this bee mortality does not seem to be the use of pesticides in modern agriculture. Many studies have shown that the survival of bee colonies strongly depends on the infestation with Varroa mites, widespread blood-sucking parasites, and the transmission of deformed wing virus by these mites. A research group from the Institute of Virology at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna has developed a new laboratory system, which enabled them to make an important step forward in the investigation of the virus. By using a molecular clone, they have simulated the course of disease in a targeted way under laboratory conditions.

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