Typing of Melissococcus plutonius isolated from European and Japanese honeybees suggests spread of sequence types across borders and between different Apis species.
Melissococcus plutonius is an important pathogen of honeybee larvae and causes European foulbrood (EFB) not only in European honeybees (Apis mellifera) but also in other native honeybees. We recently confirmed the first EFB case in Japanese native honeybees (Apis cerana japonica) and isolated M. plutonius from this case. In this study, to obtain a better understanding of the ecology of M. plutonius and the epidemiology of EFB, we analyzed M. plutonius isolates that originated from European and Japanese honeybees in Japan using an existing multilocus sequence typing scheme. These analyzed Japanese isolates were resolved into six sequence types (STs), three of which were novel STs. Among these six STs, ST3 and ST12 were the two most common and found in isolates from both European and Japanese honeybees (or their environment). Moreover, these two STs were identified not only in Japan but also in other countries, suggesting the spread of some STs across borders and different honeybee species.
Bacterial and Parasitic Diseases Research Division, National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0856, Japan; The United Graduate School of Veterinary Sciences, Gifu University, Gifu, Gifu 501-1193, Japan. Electronic address: p1013dt@affrc.go.jp.
Daisuke
D
Takamatsu
Kagawa Prefecture Eastern Regional Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Miki, Kagawa 761-0701, Japan.
Keiko
K
Morinishi
The United Graduate School of Veterinary Sciences, Gifu University, Gifu, Gifu 501-1193, Japan; Saitama Prefectural Chuo Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Saitama, Saitama 331-0821, Japan.
Rie
R
Arai
Matsumoto Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-0851, Japan.
Aya
A
Sakamoto
Bacterial and Parasitic Diseases Research Division, National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0856, Japan.
Masatoshi
M
Okura
Bacterial and Parasitic Diseases Research Division, National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0856, Japan.
Makoto
M
Osaki
D000818:Animals; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001516:Bees / Q000382:microbiology*; D056569:Enterococcaceae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005060:Europe; D007564:Japan; D007814:Larva / Q000382:microbiology; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing
European foulbrood; European honeybee; Japanese honeybee; MLST; Melissococcus plutonius