Laboratory Cultivation of <i>Vairimorpha (Nosema) ceranae</i> (Microsporidia: Nosematidae) in Artificially Infected Worker Bees
Nosemosis type C is a dangerous and widespread disease of the adult European honey bee <i>Apis mellifera</i> and is caused by the spore-forming intracellular parasite <i>Vairimorpha (Nosema) ceranae</i>. The search for new ways of therapy for this disease is complicated due t...
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MDPI AG
2022-11-01
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Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/13/12/1092 |
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author | Anastasia N. Ignatieva Sergey A. Timofeev Yuri S. Tokarev Viacheslav V. Dolgikh |
author_facet | Anastasia N. Ignatieva Sergey A. Timofeev Yuri S. Tokarev Viacheslav V. Dolgikh |
author_sort | Anastasia N. Ignatieva |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Nosemosis type C is a dangerous and widespread disease of the adult European honey bee <i>Apis mellifera</i> and is caused by the spore-forming intracellular parasite <i>Vairimorpha (Nosema) ceranae</i>. The search for new ways of therapy for this disease is complicated due to the seasonal availability of <i>V. ceranae</i>-infected insects as well as the lack of a developed system for the pathogen’s cultivation. By carrying out trials which used different infectious dosages of the parasite, spore storage protocols, host age, and incubation temperatures, we present a simple, safe, and efficient method of <i>V. ceranae</i> propagation in artificially infected worker bees in the laboratory. The method is based on feeding the groups of adult worker bees with microsporidian spores and insect maintenance in plastic bottles at 33 °C. The source of the spores originated from the cadavers of infected insects from the previous round of cultivation, in which the infective spores persist for up to six months. An analysis of five independent cultivation rounds involving more than 2500 bees showed that the proposed protocol exploiting the dosage of one million spores per bee yielded over 60 million <i>V. ceranae</i> spores per bee, and most of the spore samples can be isolated from living insects. |
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issn | 2075-4450 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:17:39Z |
publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
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series | Insects |
spelling | doaj.art-54f0efcb3bd34a42a5b1ca25f92637a12023-11-24T15:39:00ZengMDPI AGInsects2075-44502022-11-011312109210.3390/insects13121092Laboratory Cultivation of <i>Vairimorpha (Nosema) ceranae</i> (Microsporidia: Nosematidae) in Artificially Infected Worker BeesAnastasia N. Ignatieva0Sergey A. Timofeev1Yuri S. Tokarev2Viacheslav V. Dolgikh3All-Russian Institute of Plant Protection, Podbelskogo 3, 196608 St. Petersburg, RussiaAll-Russian Institute of Plant Protection, Podbelskogo 3, 196608 St. Petersburg, RussiaAll-Russian Institute of Plant Protection, Podbelskogo 3, 196608 St. Petersburg, RussiaAll-Russian Institute of Plant Protection, Podbelskogo 3, 196608 St. Petersburg, RussiaNosemosis type C is a dangerous and widespread disease of the adult European honey bee <i>Apis mellifera</i> and is caused by the spore-forming intracellular parasite <i>Vairimorpha (Nosema) ceranae</i>. The search for new ways of therapy for this disease is complicated due to the seasonal availability of <i>V. ceranae</i>-infected insects as well as the lack of a developed system for the pathogen’s cultivation. By carrying out trials which used different infectious dosages of the parasite, spore storage protocols, host age, and incubation temperatures, we present a simple, safe, and efficient method of <i>V. ceranae</i> propagation in artificially infected worker bees in the laboratory. The method is based on feeding the groups of adult worker bees with microsporidian spores and insect maintenance in plastic bottles at 33 °C. The source of the spores originated from the cadavers of infected insects from the previous round of cultivation, in which the infective spores persist for up to six months. An analysis of five independent cultivation rounds involving more than 2500 bees showed that the proposed protocol exploiting the dosage of one million spores per bee yielded over 60 million <i>V. ceranae</i> spores per bee, and most of the spore samples can be isolated from living insects.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/13/12/1092<i>Nosema ceranae</i><i>Vairimorpha ceranae</i><i>Apis mellifera</i>nosemosiscultivationartificial infection |
spellingShingle | Anastasia N. Ignatieva Sergey A. Timofeev Yuri S. Tokarev Viacheslav V. Dolgikh Laboratory Cultivation of <i>Vairimorpha (Nosema) ceranae</i> (Microsporidia: Nosematidae) in Artificially Infected Worker Bees Insects <i>Nosema ceranae</i> <i>Vairimorpha ceranae</i> <i>Apis mellifera</i> nosemosis cultivation artificial infection |
title | Laboratory Cultivation of <i>Vairimorpha (Nosema) ceranae</i> (Microsporidia: Nosematidae) in Artificially Infected Worker Bees |
title_full | Laboratory Cultivation of <i>Vairimorpha (Nosema) ceranae</i> (Microsporidia: Nosematidae) in Artificially Infected Worker Bees |
title_fullStr | Laboratory Cultivation of <i>Vairimorpha (Nosema) ceranae</i> (Microsporidia: Nosematidae) in Artificially Infected Worker Bees |
title_full_unstemmed | Laboratory Cultivation of <i>Vairimorpha (Nosema) ceranae</i> (Microsporidia: Nosematidae) in Artificially Infected Worker Bees |
title_short | Laboratory Cultivation of <i>Vairimorpha (Nosema) ceranae</i> (Microsporidia: Nosematidae) in Artificially Infected Worker Bees |
title_sort | laboratory cultivation of i vairimorpha nosema ceranae i microsporidia nosematidae in artificially infected worker bees |
topic | <i>Nosema ceranae</i> <i>Vairimorpha ceranae</i> <i>Apis mellifera</i> nosemosis cultivation artificial infection |
url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/13/12/1092 |
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