Cargando…
Genetic Variation in Virulence among Chalkbrood Strains Infecting Honeybees
Ascosphaera apis causes chalkbrood in honeybees, a chronic disease that reduces the number of viable offspring in the nest. Although lethal for larvae, the disease normally has relatively low virulence at the colony level. A recent study showed that there is genetic variation for host susceptibility...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2011
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3178585/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21966406 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0025035 |
_version_ | 1782212410137903104 |
---|---|
author | Vojvodic, Svjetlana Jensen, Annette B. Markussen, Bo Eilenberg, Jørgen Boomsma, Jacobus J. |
author_facet | Vojvodic, Svjetlana Jensen, Annette B. Markussen, Bo Eilenberg, Jørgen Boomsma, Jacobus J. |
author_sort | Vojvodic, Svjetlana |
collection | PubMed |
description | Ascosphaera apis causes chalkbrood in honeybees, a chronic disease that reduces the number of viable offspring in the nest. Although lethal for larvae, the disease normally has relatively low virulence at the colony level. A recent study showed that there is genetic variation for host susceptibility, but whether Ascosphaera apis strains differ in virulence is unknown. We exploited a recently modified in vitro rearing technique to infect honeybee larvae from three colonies with naturally mated queens under strictly controlled laboratory conditions, using four strains from two distinct A. apis clades. We found that both strain and colony of larval origin affected mortality rates. The strains from one clade caused 12–14% mortality while those from the other clade induced 71–92% mortality. Larvae from one colony showed significantly higher susceptibility to chalkbrood infection than larvae from the other two colonies, confirming the existence of genetic variation in susceptibility across colonies. Our results are consistent with antagonistic coevolution between a specialized fungal pathogen and its host, and suggest that beekeeping industries would benefit from more systematic monitoring of this chronic stress factor of their colonies. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3178585 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2011 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-31785852011-09-30 Genetic Variation in Virulence among Chalkbrood Strains Infecting Honeybees Vojvodic, Svjetlana Jensen, Annette B. Markussen, Bo Eilenberg, Jørgen Boomsma, Jacobus J. PLoS One Research Article Ascosphaera apis causes chalkbrood in honeybees, a chronic disease that reduces the number of viable offspring in the nest. Although lethal for larvae, the disease normally has relatively low virulence at the colony level. A recent study showed that there is genetic variation for host susceptibility, but whether Ascosphaera apis strains differ in virulence is unknown. We exploited a recently modified in vitro rearing technique to infect honeybee larvae from three colonies with naturally mated queens under strictly controlled laboratory conditions, using four strains from two distinct A. apis clades. We found that both strain and colony of larval origin affected mortality rates. The strains from one clade caused 12–14% mortality while those from the other clade induced 71–92% mortality. Larvae from one colony showed significantly higher susceptibility to chalkbrood infection than larvae from the other two colonies, confirming the existence of genetic variation in susceptibility across colonies. Our results are consistent with antagonistic coevolution between a specialized fungal pathogen and its host, and suggest that beekeeping industries would benefit from more systematic monitoring of this chronic stress factor of their colonies. Public Library of Science 2011-09-22 /pmc/articles/PMC3178585/ /pubmed/21966406 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0025035 Text en Vojvodic et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Vojvodic, Svjetlana Jensen, Annette B. Markussen, Bo Eilenberg, Jørgen Boomsma, Jacobus J. Genetic Variation in Virulence among Chalkbrood Strains Infecting Honeybees |
title | Genetic Variation in Virulence among Chalkbrood Strains Infecting Honeybees |
title_full | Genetic Variation in Virulence among Chalkbrood Strains Infecting Honeybees |
title_fullStr | Genetic Variation in Virulence among Chalkbrood Strains Infecting Honeybees |
title_full_unstemmed | Genetic Variation in Virulence among Chalkbrood Strains Infecting Honeybees |
title_short | Genetic Variation in Virulence among Chalkbrood Strains Infecting Honeybees |
title_sort | genetic variation in virulence among chalkbrood strains infecting honeybees |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3178585/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21966406 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0025035 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT vojvodicsvjetlana geneticvariationinvirulenceamongchalkbroodstrainsinfectinghoneybees AT jensenannetteb geneticvariationinvirulenceamongchalkbroodstrainsinfectinghoneybees AT markussenbo geneticvariationinvirulenceamongchalkbroodstrainsinfectinghoneybees AT eilenbergjørgen geneticvariationinvirulenceamongchalkbroodstrainsinfectinghoneybees AT boomsmajacobusj geneticvariationinvirulenceamongchalkbroodstrainsinfectinghoneybees |