2022-10-25 カナダ・ブリティッシュコロンビア大学(URC)
ミツバチのウイルス感染は、より激しく、より広くなっている。
研究者たちは、野外でウイルスに感染した女王バチが健康なものに比べて卵巣が萎んでいることを発見した。その後、研究室で女王バチに別のウイルスを感染させたところ、同じ結果になることに気がついた。
女王蜂の卵巣が縮んでいるということは、卵の数が少なく、その結果、子蜂の数も少なくなっている可能性がある。
<関連情報>
- https://news.ubc.ca/2022/10/25/sick-queen-bees-have-shriveled-ovaries-putting-their-colonies-at-risk/
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-20330-4
社会性昆虫モデルにおける隠蔽性ウイルス感染症の受胎コスト Fertility costs of cryptic viral infections in a model social insect
Abigail Chapman,Esmaeil Amiri,Bin Han,Erin McDermott,Olav Rueppell,David R. Tarpy,Leonard J. Foster & Alison McAfee
Scientific Reports Published:23 September 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-20330-4
Abstract
Declining insect populations emphasize the importance of understanding the drivers underlying reductions in insect fitness. Here, we investigated viruses as a threat to social insect reproduction, using honey bees as a model species. We report that in two independent surveys (N = 93 and N = 54, respectively) of honey bee (Apis mellifera) queens taken from a total of ten beekeeping operations across British Columbia, high levels of natural viral infection are associated with decreased ovary mass. Failed (poor quality) queens displayed higher levels of viral infection, reduced sperm viability, smaller ovaries, and altered ovary protein composition compared to healthy queens. We experimentally infected queens with Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) and found that the ovary masses of IAPV-injected queens were significantly smaller than control queens, demonstrating a causal relationship between viral infection and ovary size. Queens injected with IAPV also had significantly lower expression of vitellogenin, the main source of nutrition deposited into developing oocytes, and higher levels of heat-shock proteins, which are part of the honey bee’s antiviral response. This work together shows that viral infections occurring naturally in the field are compromising queen reproductive success.
