| Autor: |
Lefebre, Regis, Claeys Bouuaert, David, Bossuyt, Emma, De Smet, Lina, Brunain, Marleen, Danneels, Ellen, de Graaf, Dirk C. |
| Předmět: |
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| Zdroj: |
Insects (2075-4450); Jun2024, Vol. 15 Issue 6, p397, 11p |
| Abstrakt: |
Simple Summary: Since the mid-20th century, the parasitic Varroa mite has become a major threat for honey bee health worldwide. However, mature female mites are only able to reproduce in the honey bee colony's brood cells, which are the hexagonal wax cells in which early bee larvae and pupae develop. By abundantly feeding on the larvae and pupae's fat body tissues and hemolymph, the mites weaken the bees and act as an important vector for many honey bee viruses. Worldwide, distinct natural mite-surviving colonies have already been observed, which often show a range of Varroa resistance traits suppressing the mite's population growth. One such trait is characterized by the suppression of mite reproduction in the brood cells of the developing bees. However, accounting for this trait in selection programs to improve resilience is hard, as the trait is labor- and time-intensive to evaluate. In this study, we propose an alternative, more holistic way of evaluating this Varroa resistance trait, reducing labor without impairing precision, which ultimately allows more colonies to be included in honey bee selection or breeding programs. The mechanisms of action behind decreased mite reproduction (DMR) are still unknown, but current hypotheses state that DMR is the result of brood-intrinsic and/or external disturbances in the V. destructor—honey bee pupa signal interactions. For accurate and precise DMR phenotyping, sufficient single infested honey bee brood cells are required (e.g., 35), which requires extensive labor and time and may exclude many samples not reaching the threshold. We defined a new comprehensive trait called the 'mean V. destructor reproduction rate' (mVR), which describes the mean number of offspring mites per infested cell in the sample while compensating for the reduced number of offspring with increasing multiple infested cells. We found a significant correlation between mVR and DMR, allowing for an estimation of DMR based on the mVR only. When the mVR was calculated with 10 infested cells, we found an average variation in mVR of 16.8%. For the same variation in DMR determination, 40 single infested cells are required. This broader look at V. destructor resistance phenotyping can improve the applicability and effectiveness of traits related to V. destructor reproduction in honey bee breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Databáze: |
Complementary Index |
| Externí odkaz: |
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