Title
Differential diagnosis of the honey bee trypanosomatids Crithidia mellificae and Lotmaria passim
Date Issued
01 September 2015
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Ravoet J.
Schwarz R.S.
Descamps T.
Tozkar C.O.
Martin-Hernandez R.
Bartolomé C.
De Smet L.
Higes M.
Wenseleers T.
Schmid-Hempel R.
Neumann P.
Kadowaki T.
Evans J.D.
de Graaf D.C.
University of Bern
Publisher(s)
Academic Press Inc.
Abstract
Trypanosomatids infecting honey bees have been poorly studied with molecular methods until recently. After the description of Crithidia mellificae (Langridge and McGhee, 1967) it took about forty years until molecular data for honey bee trypanosomatids became available and were used to identify and describe a new trypanosomatid species from honey bees, Lotmaria passim (Evans and Schwarz, 2014). However, an easy method to distinguish them without sequencing is not yet available. Research on the related bumble bee parasites Crithidia bombi and Crithidia expoeki revealed a fragment length polymorphism in the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1), which enabled species discrimination. In search of fragment length polymorphisms for differential diagnostics in honey bee trypanosomatids, we studied honey bee trypanosomatid cell cultures of C. mellificae and L. passim. This research resulted in the identification of fragment length polymorphisms in ITS1 and ITS1-2 markers, which enabled us to develop a diagnostic method to differentiate both honey bee trypanosomatid species without the need for sequencing. However, the amplification success of the ITS1 marker depends probably on the trypanosomatid infection level. Further investigation confirmed that L. passim is the dominant species in Belgium, Japan and Switzerland. We found C. mellificae only rarely in Belgian honey bee samples, but not in honey bee samples from other countries. C. mellificae was also detected in mason bees (Osmia bicornis and Osmia cornuta) besides in honey bees. Further, the characterization and comparison of additional markers from L. passim strain SF (published as C. mellificae strain SF) and a Belgian honey bee sample revealed very low divergence in the 18S rRNA, ITS1-2, 28S rRNA and cytochrome b sequences. Nevertheless, a variable stretch was observed in the gp63 virulence factor.
Start page
21
End page
27
Volume
130
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Zoología, Ornitología, Entomología, ciencias biológicas del comportamiento
Biología celular, Microbiología
Biología celular, Microbiología
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84936067557
PubMed ID
Source
Journal of Invertebrate Pathology
ISSN of the container
00222011
Sponsor(s)
J.R. was supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen, research grant G.0628.11), M.H. by INIA-FEDER funds (Project INIA-RTA2013-00042-C10-Subp06) and R.S.S. in part by U.S. National Science Foundation Dimensions in Biodiversity grant 1046153. We thank Ilse Coene and Dr. Kim de Leeneer (Center for Medical Genetics, Ghent University Hospital) for the help with the HRM analyses. Prof. Joseph DeRisi is acknowledged for supplying unpublished geneomic data of L. passim (currently published) and for comments on an earlier version of the draft manuscript.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus