title: Elevated virulence of an emerging viral genotype as a driver of honeybee loss.
abstract: Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) have contributed significantly to the current biodiversity crisis, leading to widespread epidemics and population loss. Owing to genetic variation in pathogen virulence, a complete understanding of species decline requires the accurate identification and characterization of EIDs. We explore this issue in the Western honeybee, where increasing mortality of populations in the Northern Hemisphere has caused major concern. Specifically, we investigate the importance of genetic identity of the main suspect in mortality, deformed wing virus (DWV), in driving honeybee loss. Using laboratory experiments and a systematic field survey, we demonstrate that an emerging DWV genotype (DWV-B) is more virulent than the established DWV genotype (DWV-A) and is widespread in the landscape. Furthermore, we show in a simple model that colonies infected with DWV-B collapse sooner than colonies infected with DWV-A. We also identify potential for rapid DWV evolution by revealing extensive genome-wide recombination in vivo The emergence of DWV-B in naive honeybee populations, including via recombination with DWV-A, could be of significant ecological and economic importance. Our findings emphasize that knowledge of pathogen genetic identity and diversity is critical to understanding drivers of species decline.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, MBC, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, UK Institute of Biology, Free University Berlin, Schwendenerstrasse 1, 14195 Berlin, Germany Department for Materials and Environment, BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Unter den Eichen 87, 12205 Berlin, Germany dino.mcmahon@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Dino P
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1119-5299
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: McMahon
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Hoher Weg 8, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors.forename: Myrsini E
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7751-3793
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Natsopoulou
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Hoher Weg 8, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6313-1222
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Doublet
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 OEX, UK IST Austria (Institute of Science and Technology Austria), 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3712-925X
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fürst
authors.affiliation: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany Institute of Computer Science, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06099 Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weging
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 OEX, UK.
authors.forename: Mark J F
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8887-3628
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany Institute of Computer Science, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06099 Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gogol-Döring
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, MBC, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, UK Institute for Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Hoher Weg 8, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany robert.paxton@zoologie.uni-halle.de.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2517-1351
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Paxton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000821:virology*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D007304:Insect Viruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence
keywords: decline; emerging infectious disease; pollinator; virulence