title: Newly isolated bacterial strains belonging to Bacillaceae (Bacillus sp.) and Micrococcaceae accelerate death of the honey bee mite, Varroa destructor (V. jacobsoni), in laboratory assays.
abstract: Newly isolated bacterial strains belonging to Bacillaceae (Bacillus sp.), Micrococcaceae and three unidentified strains were tested for their pathogenicity against the mite, Varroa destructor. The Bacillus sp. strain and two of the strains belonging to the Micrococcaceae family significantly decreased the time for 50% mortality of the mite population (up to 57%) and hence may be potential control agents. In in vitro bioassay whole cells, extracellular broth and cellular extract of the Bacillus sp. strain effectively killed the mites, suggesting that both endotoxins and exotoxins contributed to the killing.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of General and Agricultural Microbiology, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 118-55 GR, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Vasiliki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tsagou
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lianou
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lazarakis
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Emmanouel
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Aggelis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001407:Bacillus / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D001516:Bees / Q000469:parasitology*; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality; D008835:Micrococcaceae / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D008925:Mites / Q000382:microbiology*; D010572:Pest Control, Biological