Occurrence and prevalence of six honey bee viruses in Hakkari (Turkey) and their genomic divergence

Abstract :

A survey study was conducted to establish the occurrence and prevalence of Black queen cell virus (BQCV), Deformed wing virus (DWV), Sacbrood virus (SBV), Chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV), Kashmir bee virus (KBV) and Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) in traditionally beekeeping sites of Hakkari province (Turkey). Including the central Hakkari, the districts of Cukurca, Semdinli and Yuksekova were surveyed to assess the types of symptoms and the severity of the diseases of honey bees in a total of 90 apiaries. The presence of BQCV, DWV, SBV and CBPV infections were ascertained for the first time by RT-PCR. BQCV was found in three sampled districts and was the most frequently detected virus, found in 32% of bee samples.Less than 24% of asymptomatic bee samples were positive for DWV, SBV and CBPV with the infection ratio of 23, 12 and 9%, respectively. The samples showing deformed wing symptoms were always reacted positive for DWV. During this survey, KBV and IAPV were not detected in any of tested bee samples. Some double and triple infections were encountered: BQCV+DWV 7 (7.7%), BQCV+SBV 4 (4.4%), BQCV+CBPV 2 (2.2%), DWV+CBPV 2 (2.2%), DWV+SBV 1 (1.1%) and DWV+BQCV+SBV 1 (1.1%). The overall incidences of detected viruses (BQCV, DWV, SBV and CBPV) were lower than the other records of various sites of the world. Based on blast analysis at NCBI database, the cloned nucleotide sequences of Hakkari’s isolates of BQCV, DWV, SBV, and CBPV have been showed varied nucleic acid similarities between 77-99%.


Keyword :

Apis mellifera, Hakkari province, molecular characterization, RNA viruses, RT-PCR


Author(s) : Rüstemoğlu, M., Sipahioğlu, H. M.
Downloads : 340
Published Issue : 2019 Vol. 14 Number 2


2019 Vol. 14 Number 2