A Saliva Protein of Varroa Mites Contributes to the Toxicity toward Apis cerana and the DWV Elevation in A. mellifera

Scientific Reports
Yi Zhang, Richou Han

Abstract

Varroa destructor mites express strong avoidance of the Apis cerana worker brood in the field. The molecular mechanism for this phenomenon remains unknown. We identified a Varroa toxic protein (VTP), which exhibited toxic activity toward A. cerana worker larvae, in the saliva of these mites, and expressed VTP in an Escherichia coli system. We further demonstrated that recombinant VTP killed A. cerana worker larvae and pupae in the absence of deformed-wing virus (DWV) but was not toxic to A. cerana worker adults and drones. The recombinant VTP was safe for A. mellifera individuals, but resulted in elevated DWV titers and the subsequent development of deformed-wing adults. RNAi-mediated suppression of vtp gene expression in the mites partially protected A. cerana larvae. We propose a modified mechanism for Varroa mite avoidance of worker brood, due to mutual destruction stress, including the worker larvae blocking Varroa mite reproduction and Varroa mites killing worker larvae by the saliva toxin. The discovery of VTP should provide a better understanding of Varroa pathogenesis, facilitate host-parasite mechanism research and allow the development of effective methods to control these harmful mites.

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Citations

Jun 12, 2019·Annual Review of Virology·Stephen J Martin, Laura E Brettell
Oct 5, 2019·Communications Biology·Maeva A TecherAlexander S Mikheyev
Feb 26, 2020·Viruses·Ya GuoBryony C Bonning
Jan 12, 2020·Communications Biology·Maeva A TecherAlexander S Mikheyev
May 28, 2020·Trends in Parasitology·Kirsten S TraynorAlison McAfee
Aug 5, 2021·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Isobel Grindrod, Stephen J Martin

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
KU647280

Methods Mentioned

BETA
PCR
Protein Assay

Software Mentioned

SignalP
ClustalW
Expasy
DNASTAR
SPSS
Mx3000P

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