Systemic Spread and Propagation of a Plant-Pathogenic Virus in European Honeybees, Apis mellifera

Li, Ji Lian; Cornman, R. Scott; Evans, Jay D.; Pettis, Jeffery S.; Zhao, Yan; Murphy, Charles; Peng, Wen Jun; Wu, Jie; Hamilton, Michele; Boncristiani, Humberto F.; Zhou, Liang; Hammond, John; Chen, Yan Ping

Generally, the majority of plant viruses are dependent upon herbivorous insects for their spread from one host plant to another in nature but cause infection only in plants that the insect vectors feed upon. To date, only a few plant viruses are known that also infect their insect vectors. Rhabdoviridae, a family of arboviruses carried by arthropods, has long been recognized to have a broad range of hosts throughout the animal and plant kingdoms (12) . Flock house virus (FHV), a positive-stranded RNA virus of insect origin belonging to the family Nodaviridae, has been shown to replicate in plants as well as in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and mammalian cells (13, 14) . A recent study (15) showed that a plant-pathogenic virus, tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), which is a member of the family Bunyaviridae, could directly alter the behavior of thrips that vector it. The phenomenon of viral host range spanning the plant and animal kingdoms adds an additional layer to the already complex plant-pathogen-pollinator interactions and could have important epidemiological consequences.