Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 116/2, 383–393, Ljubljana 2020 doi:10.14720/aas.2020.116.2.1832 Original research article / izvirni znanstveni članek Discovery and molecular characterisation of the first ambidensovirus in honey bees Sabina OTT RUTAR 1 , Dušan KORDIŠ 1, 2 Received Avgust 13, 2020; accepted December 13, 2020. Delo je prispelo 13. avgusta 2020, sprejeto 13. decembra 2020 1 Josef Stefan Institute, Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2 Corresponding author, e-mail: dusan.kordis@ijs.si Discovery and molecular characterisation of the first am- bidensovirus in honey bees Abstract: Honey bees play a critical role in global food production as pollinators of numerous crops. Several stressors cause declines in populations of managed and wild bee species, such as habitat degradation, pesticide exposure and patho- gens. Viruses act as key stressors and can infect a wide range of species. The majority of honey bee-infecting viruses are RNA viruses of the Picornavirales order. Although some ssDNA vi- ruses are common in insects, such as densoviruses, they have not yet been found in honey bees. Densoviruses were however found in bumblebees and ants. Here, we show that densoviruses are indeed present in the transcriptome of the eastern honey bee (Apis cerana) from southern China. On the basis of non- structural and structural transcripts, we inferred the genome structure of the Apis densovirus. Phylogenetic analysis has shown that this novel Apis densovirus belongs to the Scindoam- bidensovirus genus in the Densovirinae subfamily. Apis denso- virus possesses ambisense genome organisation and encodes three non-structural proteins and a split VP (capsid) protein. The availability of a nearly complete Apis densovirus genome may enable the analysis of its potential pathogenic impact on honey bees. Our findings can thus guide further research into the densoviruses in honey bees and bumblebees. Key words: honey bees; densovirus; genome organisation; molecular characterisation Odkritje in molekularna karakterizacija prvega ambidenso- virusa pri čebelah Izvleček: Čebele igrajo ključno vlogo v svetovni proizvo- dnji hrane kot opraševalci številnih poljščin. Številni stresorji povzročajo upad populacij gojenih in divjih vrst čebel, kot so degradacija habitata, izpostavljenost pesticidom in patogeni. Virusi delujejo kot glavni stresorji in lahko okužijo številne vrste. Večina virusov, ki okužijo čebele, so RNA virusi iz reda Picornavirales. Čeprav so nekateri ssDNA virusi pogosti pri žuželkah, na primer densovirusi, jih pri čebelah doslej še niso našli. Densovirusi pa so bili najdeni pri čmrljih in mravljah. Po- kazali smo, da so densovirusi prisotni v transkriptomu azijskih čebel (Apis cerana) z južne Kitajske. Na osnovi nestrukturnih in strukturnih transkriptov smo ugotovili genomsko struktu- ro Apis densovirusa. Filogenetska analiza je pokazala, da novi Apis densovirus spada v rod Scindoambidensovirus v poddru- žini Densovirinae. Apis densovirus ima ambisense organizacijo genoma in kodira tri nestrukturne proteine in razcepljeni VP (kapsidni) protein. Dostopnost skoraj celotnega genoma Apis densovirusa bo omogočila analizo njihovega potencialno pa- togenega vpliva na čebele. Naše ugotovitve lahko privedejo do nadaljnjih raziskav densovirusov pri čebelah in čmrljih. Ključne besede: čebele; densovirus; organizacija genoma; molekulska karakterizacija 1 INTRODUCTION Honey bees (Apis mellifera) play a critical role in global food production as pollinators of numerous crops (Klein et al., 2007; Fürst et al., 2014). Several stressors cause declining populations of managed and wild bee species such as habitat degradation, pesticide exposure and pathogens (Goulson et al., 2015; Potts et al., 2010; Evans and Schwarz, 2011; McMenamin et al., 2016; Mc- Menamin and Genersch, 2015). Viruses act as key stress- ors and can infect a wide range of species (Grozinger and Flenniken, 2019). Overt viral infections can result in a Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 116/2 – 2020 384 S. OTT RUTAR and D. KORDIŠ wide range of symptoms, including wing deformities, discoloration, hair loss, bloated abdomens, trembling, paralysis, and mortality (Chen and Siede, 2007). Honey bee populations have become increasingly susceptible to colony losses due to pathogenic viruses spread by para- sitic Varroa mites (Martin et al., 2012). The majority of honey bee-infecting viruses are RNA viruses of the Picornavirales order (Chen and Siede, 2007; Levitt et al., 2013; Brutscher et al., 2016; McMenamin and Flenniken, 2018; Beaurepaire et al., 2020). Common bee viruses include: the Dicistroviruses (Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), Kashmir bee virus (KBV), Acute bee paraly- sis virus (ABPV), and Black queen cell virus (BQCV)); the Iflaviruses (Deformed wing virus (DWV), Kakugo virus, Varroa destructor virus-1/DWV-B, Sacbrood virus (SBV), and Slow bee paralysis virus (SBPV)); and taxonomically unclassified viruses (Chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV) and the Lake Sinai viruses (LSVs)) (reviewed in Chen and Siede, 2007 and Brutscher et al., 2016). Recently identified positive sense single-stranded RNA viruses (+ssRNA) vi- ruses include Bee macula-like virus (BeeMLV) in the Ty- moviridae family (Galbraith et al., 2018), Apis mellifera flavivirus and Apis mellifera nora virus 1 (Remnant et al., 2017). Apis mellifera rhabdovirus and bunyavirus were re- cently described (Remnant et al., 2017) and represent first bee-infecting negative sense single-stranded RNA viruses (-ssRNA). Honey bees are infected by a small number of DNA viruses (Chen and Siede, 2007). Among double-stranded DNA viruses two honey bee-infecting viruses have been found. The Apis mellifera filamentous virus (AmFV) is from the Baculoviridae family and has been sequenced and characterized (Gauthier et al., 2015; Hartmann et al., 2015). The Apis cerana iridovirus from the Iridoviridae family has not yet been sequenced (Bailey et al., 1976; Bro- menshenk et al., 2010; Tokarz et al., 2011). Very recently, a number of single-stranded DNA viruses (ssDNA) as- sociated with Apis mellifera have been reported, belong- ing to circoviruses (Circoviridae) (Galbraith et al., 2018), genomoviruses (Genomoviridae) (Kraberger et al., 2019), CRESS DNA viruses (Cressdnaviricota) (Kraberger et al., 2019) and microviruses (Microviridae) that infect the honey bee bacterial community (Kraberger et al., 2019). Although some ssDNA viruses are common in in- sects, such as densoviruses (Parvoviridae) (Cotmore et al., 2014; Pénzes et al., 2020), they have not yet been found in honey bees. Densoviruses were however found in bumblebees and ants (Schoonvaere et al., 2018; Valles et al., 2013). Here, we show that densoviruses are indeed present in the Apis cerana transcriptome from southern China. Genome organisation and phylogenetic analysis have shown that this novel Apis densovirus belongs to the Scindoambidensovirus genus in the Densovirinae subfam- ily. It is interesting that the Bombus and Apis densovirus- es are not very similar and belong to different densoviral genera. Although the Bombus densovirus is also present endogenised in the Bombus impatiens genome, this was not the case for the Apis densovirus. The availability of a nearly complete Apis densovirus genome may enable the analysis of its potential pathogenic impact on honey bees. Our findings can thus guide further research into the densoviruses in honey bees. 2 MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1 DISCOVERy OF THE APIS AMBIDENSOVIRUS IN PUBLIC TRANSCRIPTOMIC DATABASES Sequence database searches were finished in July 2020. The protein queries were diverse densoviral NS1 and VP sequences. The database analysed was the Tran- scriptome Shotgun Assembly (TSA) at the National Cent- er for Biotechnology Information (www.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov). Comparisons were made using the TBLASTN pro- gram (Gertz et al., 2006), with the E-value cut-off set to 10 −5 and default settings for other parameters. TBLASTN searching was restricted to different taxa (Protostomia, Hymenoptera, Apoidea and Apis). Apis cerana transcrip- tome (erroneously named Apis mellifera carnica) contains 52.177 contigs. Apis ambidensovirus sequences were compared to reference protein sequences of all parvovi- ruses. DNA sequences of the Apis ambidensovirus were translated with the Translate program (web.expasy.org/ translate/). 2.2 ANALy SIS OF ENDOGENOUS VIRUS ELE- MENTS Endogenous copies of densoviruses were detected using the TBLASTN algorithm against hymenopteran ge- nomes available in the Whole Genome Shotgun Database (WGS) and Sequence Read Archive (SRA) at the NCBI, using densoviral protein sequences as queries. The que- ries involved NS1, NS2, NS3 and VP protein sequences. Comparisons were made using the TBLASTN program (Gertz et al., 2006), with the E-value cut-off set to 10 −5 and default settings for other parameters. 2.3 PREDICTION OF PROTEIN DOMAINS In order to recognize potential protein domains in the protein sequences analysed, we used NCBI CDD da- tabase (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Structure/cdd/wrpsb.cgi), Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 116/2 – 2020 385 Discovery and molecular characterisation of the first ambidensovirus in honey bees by applying a cut-off E-value of 0.01. All Apis and Bom- bus densovirus proteins were compared against SMART (smart.embl-heidelberg.de), InterPro (www.ebi.ac.uk/ interpro/) and Pfam (pfam.xfam.org) protein domain da- tabases at default parameters. 2.4 PHyLOGENETIC ANALy SIS To infer the phylogenetic relationships among densoviruses, we used their NS1 protein sequences. Key representatives of the densoviral lineages were included in the phylogenetic analysis. 24 protein sequences of the NS1 were aligned using MAFFT (Katoh and Standley, 2013). Phylogenetic trees were reconstructed using the maximum likelihood (ML) method. For phylogenetic reconstruction, we used IQ-TREE with the in-built au- tomated test to choose the best substitution model for each tree (Trifinopoulos et al., 2016). Branch support was computed for all trees using 100 replicates of parametric bootstrap, and 1000 replicates of the approximate likeli- hood ratio test and ultrafast bootstrap. The iTOL online tool (http://itol.embl.de/) was used for phylogenetic tree annotation (Letunic and Bork, 2016). 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 DISCOVERy OF THE ACTIVELy TRANSCRIB- ING DENSOVIRUS IN THE HONEy BEE TRAN- SCRIPTOME Densoviruses are infecting diverse insect lineages (Cotmore et al., 2014; Penzes et al., 2020). Previous stud- ies have found numerous endogenised densoviruses in in- sect genomes (Liu et al., 2011; Francois et al., 2016). Me- tatranscriptomic analyses of major invertebrate lineages have enabled the discovery of a very large number of nov- el RNA viruses (Shi et al., 2016). Recently, the metatran- scriptomic analysis of diverse invertebrates has enabled the discovery of novel invertebrate DNA viruses (Porter et al., 2019). This methodology can identify actively tran- scribing DNA viruses in metatranscriptomic libraries. Here, we used this approach to find novel densoviruses in invertebrate transcriptomes at NCBI TSA database. We used both NS1 and VP proteins of diverse densoviruses as queries. A large number of novel densoviruses can be found in invertebrate transcriptomes; some are partial transcripts, while others represent separate NS and VP transcripts or nearly whole genomes. To our surprise, we found the first honey bee densovirus transcripts, with the size range between 1.9 and 2.6 Kb. These transcripts cor- respond either to the non-structural part of the densovi- rus genome (encoding NS proteins) or the structural part of the genome (encoding VP proteins). In the transcrip- tome of the eastern honey bee from China we found 8 VP transcripts (encoding a capsid protein) and 4 NS tran- scripts (Table 1). The size of the complete Apis densovi- rus VP protein is 760 amino acids, while the sizes of the NS3, NS2 and NS1 proteins are 177, 298 and at least 546 amino acids, respectively. Among NS transcripts only one encodes the complete set of NS3, NS2 and NS1 proteins (GALO01034698, 2215 bp long). NS1 protein is nearly complete, missing is only the C-terminal part (from 2 to 20 amino acids), depending on the most similar sequenc- es that are quite divergent. The most similar sequence to the NS1 protein of Apis densovirus is the ant Solenopsis invicta NS1; they are 49 % Transcript NCBI accession number Size of the transcript (in bp) Presence of the intron VP transcripts GALO01020880 2454 no GALO01020879 2571 yes GALO01020878 2502 yes GALO01020884 2372 no GALO01020881 2489 yes GALO01020883 2420 yes GALO01020882 2425 no GALO01020885 2343 no NS transcripts GALO01034701 1921 no GALO01034700 1998 no GALO01034699 2138 no GALO01034698 2215 no Table 1: Apis densovirus transcripts Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 116/2 – 2020 386 S. OTT RUTAR and D. KORDIŠ identical. Apis NS2 protein has best match in the S. invicta NS2 protein; they are 37 % identical. Apis NS3 protein is however unique and has no orthologs. Apis VP protein is more divergent and shows only 31 % amino acid identity with the Planococcus citri VP1 protein. We checked the conserved protein domains in the encoded Apis densovi- rus proteins and all of them are typical for densoviruses. In Apis VP protein, we can see the Parvo_coat_N domain (N-terminal region of the parvovirus VP1 coat proteins) and the large Denso_VP4 domain (capsid protein VP4 – four different translation initiation sites of the densovirus capsid protein mRNA give rise to four viral proteins, VP1 to VP4). Parvo_coat_N domain indeed encodes a special parvoviral phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ) that is necessary for their infectivity (Zadori et al., 2001). It is conserved in Apis VP protein and encodes at least 34 amino acids, with the conserved active site of the PLA 2 and Ca 2+ -binding loop. In the NS1 protein, the DNA helicase protein that is required for the initiation of viral DNA replication is encoded in a protein domain named Parvo_NS1 super- family. No conserved protein domains could be found in the NS2 and NS3 proteins. In some of the Apis densovirus VP transcripts, we found an intron that is 117 bp long (Fig. 1). The presence of introns in a VP gene is typical for the Scindoambidens- ovirus genus. Members of the Scindoambidensovirus ge- nus are characterized by a split VP-encoding ORF, which gives rise to the VP1 minor capsid protein via a spliced transcript as well as another major capsid protein (VP2) containing a unique N-terminal region, which has not been observed in any other parvovirus to date. The name “Scindo” refers to this split VP gene (Penzes et al., 2020, Tijssen et al., 2016). The Apis VP1 protein is 275 amino acids long, while the VP2 is 506 amino acids long. The presence of the split VP-encoding ORF in Apis densovi- rus indicates that it is most likely the new representative of the Scindoambidensovirus genus. 3.2 APIS DENSOVIRUS IS A MEMBER OF THE Scindo AmBidenSo ViruS GENUS To infer the phylogenetic affinity of Apis densovi- rus and relationships among densoviruses, we used their acccgtttcgccgaggaatccggtatacacgcggcgatcggtaaagttggattggacgtt T R F A E E S G I H A A I G K V G L D V aagcagaccatcgaaaaattaacaggagttttgtacccatctgttccaggtaagatatga K Q T I E K L T G V L Y P S V P ctagaaaattgaaacctccaccagacgaaagaccgaactatgaatttttaaatgagggcc aaaaacgttatgcgtgggaacaatataaattggcacgtgttcgcaggggattaccgatcg G D Y R S Figure 1: Apis densovirus possess a typical scindoambidensoviral intron in the VP1 gene. The VP1 intron is 117 bp long (italic). Splicing recognition sites are bold and underlined. * Figure 2: Maximum likelihood phylogeny of the densoviruses. The tree was inferred by IQTree program under a LG + F + I + G4 model from the NS1 proteins. Only bootstrap values larger than 80 % are shown as circles. The hepandensovirus was used to root this tree. Apis densovirus is shown in cyan color with asterisk. Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 116/2 – 2020 387 Discovery and molecular characterisation of the first ambidensovirus in honey bees NS1 protein sequences. Representatives of eight classified and one unclassified Densovirinae genera were included in the phylogenetic analysis. Best-fit model according to Bayesian information criterion was LG + F + I + G4. Tree was rooted with the hepandensovirus. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis confirmed that Apis am- bidensovirus is a new member of the Scindoambidenso- virus genus (Fig. 2). On the other side, the bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) densovirus is a representative of a novel unclassified Densovirinae genus. 3.3 INFERRED GENOME ORGANISATION OF THE APIS AMBIDENSOVIRUS Ambidensoviruses share a genomic characteristic: all of them exhibit antisense genome organisation. They maintain the division of the genome into separate non- structural (NS3 to NS1) and structural (VP capsid) gene cassettes; these cassettes are inverted with respect to one another. In ambisense densovirus genomes, the non- structural proteins (NS3 to NS1) are expressed from an ORF in the left half of the genome. The capsid proteins are translated from an ORF on the right hand side of the genome, but from an RNA generated in the opposite ori- entation (Mietzsch et al., 2019). Although we lack direct evidence for the Apis densovirus genome, we can simply infer its genome sequence from the available NS and VP transcripts. While the obtained genome sequence is not complete, it contains nearly 90 % sequence of the Apis densovirus. Missing are only terminal inverted repeats with promoters and the 50–100 bp in the center of the genome. The assembled partial Apis densovirus genome is currently 4786 bp long, while the expected complete genome size could be up to 5300 bp long (Fig. 3). 3.4 APIS DENSOVIRUS IS NOT ENDOGENISED Previous studies of densoviruses in invertebrate ge- nomes have found numerous endogenised densoviruses, some of them possessing complete genomes (Liu et al., 2011; Francois et al., 2016). We searched the available Apis genomes at the NCBI WGS and NCBI SRA data- bases for the presence of endogenised densoviruses. No endogenised densovirus sequences can be found in the available Apis genomes. The search for endogenised densoviruses in hymenopteran genomes showed that besides their presence in ant genomes they are also present in the bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) genome (AEQM02016195, 3848 bp long). This Bombus densovi- rus encodes intact NS1, NS2 and VP proteins (Fig. 4). It is most similar to the Bombus cryptarum and d iaphorina citri densoviruses but has very low level of similarity to the Apis densovirus (Fig. 2). 3.5 POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE APIS DENSOVI- RUS ON HONEy BEES The relationship between densoviruses and their ar- thropod hosts ranges from mutualism (Xu et al., 2014) to severe pathology (Szelei et al., 2011), which is espe- cially problematic in large insect rearing facilities (Tijs- sen et al., 2016; Schoonvaere et al., 2018). Densoviruses are highly pathogenic for insects at larval stages, which are infected through the ingestion of contaminated food tcgtcgtagaaactagttctaaaagtgatggacactctggccactctctctcgtaagtgcat agcaagtaatatttcttttcttaatatcgatactttatccggctatttgcccgatatatt aatacaggacataaaagataactattggaaagattattgcgaatatctaacgtgcaaaga agaattaccccttcagtcgaaagagaagtacgaagacgagataaacatagtggtatcaac agagtattgtctacattcaacgcttgctataggtattaataagtggtgttgtaataattg cattcatacatttttaaaaaatagacgaaaaggaactgtttttatacacgtcagtaccgt acgatccgcttgtagagtttctagagcttataaagccatttgcggtaattgtgcaaagcc tgtacaattaaaagtatatgacgcaaaaggaattaaactagatcctattcatttttgttg gaacgacagttacacggttacgggaaacgtatatccaccagatggacgtcccaggatcag aaaacgatactaccgttgaattcgttgagttatggaatcttatatgggatttgcttctga ctcaggagatcgaggaaactctgttggttcgacctcggatatgggaggaccttctggaga aaacattggaaaaattactccagaaagaggattcaccggacatttcccagtacgaaaaat taaagatttgtttccagaacagtttaagattttggaagataaattacaaaaagtggtcgg tcactacattcgaagaattgaggaacaagattttggaaaaacaaaaagatatattagcga cgttattcttcttcaaggacaagaacaccgtgatagatgcattcgacacctgcgccaaga atctggctcctacatgggtaaactcttcatatgggtcgttgaaacagatcacctgcacat cgtccacgattgcccctggtcaaacggatcttgtagatgcagaattcttgacgtaccctt cattcgacgacatgttcaaaagagtgtgcgaagaaccaagtacatctcagaactcgacag Fig. 3 continues on the next page Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 116/2 – 2020 388 S. 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caactttaccgatcgccgcgtgtataccggattcctcggcgaaacgggtcgcagcctctc gatccgcttccttcacctctgctacgaacgacgatttatcgatctgtcccttctcgtatt tctcttgaatttcctgatattttaaatcgtgatctctggctatttgatcgaccggattct tcgcagcttctatgggaatggaattgccaggtccgacgtagtcgcttccaggtaaagtat atccccttctatttgttattttttcggtaagatatcccccgataccgacagcagcggtac ctattgctgccgacgcaagtaacgtaggtgctgcaagagacgatcctgcaccgaccgcgg acgctgaactgaccgctccgacggatgccccgactccggatgcgaccgattccgatgctc cagctccctcggagggggaaatgcgaagtgaacctcttgtgccacctcgtctacgtaatc cgtctgcgttcggatttctctcgttcgtcgatccgatggattcccgttgacgtgatacat ttccttctccaacactgatatcggaggtggagttgtaaattccggagctagtgtagttgt Fig. 3 continues on the next page Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 116/2 – 2020 389 Discovery and molecular characterisation of the first ambidensovirus in honey bees agtctggttccccattaaatgcagtttcctctataccaaaatgttcattatcaacctcgt tgtaatctaataatctgtgctcttcttcttgagttgttctgttttttagaaatttatcaa ttatacttctgtcccatccgaccgcttcgcttgccatgacacttatgatcttctctcata tttatctccttatataatatccatatcgttgttacgtaacactcgtaatctcgcaagctg agttcttgccgaatatcaacctccagttgatatttcccgacgacgacgcct NS3 MDTLATLSRKCIASNISFLNIDTLSGYLPDILIQDIKDNYWKDYCEYLTC KEELPLQSKEKYEDEINIVVSTEYCLHSTLAIGINKWCCNNCIHTFLKNR RKGTVFIHVSTVRSACRVSRAYKAICGNCAKPVQLKVYDAKGIKLDPIHF CWNDSYTVTGNVYPPDGRPRIRKRYYR* NS2 MDVPGSENDTTVEFVELWNLIWDLLLTQEIEETLLVRPRIWEDLLEKTLE KLLQKEDSPDISQYEKLKICFQNSLRFWKINYKKWSVTTFEELRNKILEK QKDILATLFFFKDKNTVIDAFDTCAKNLAPTWVNSSYGSLKQITCTSSTI APGQTDLVDAEFLTYPSFDDMFKRVCEEPSTSQNSTEQTTKVYFYTSLCR NGKASEKFGLEEEYSDYLIKMKLYNGKICREQHPNYWLGKLKEVDISVPR DHPIMTHVEAIFTKSLTELRKKGGRLTTDHDGQRKPNGPRFYPRYKPY* NS1 MESYMGFASDSGDRGNSVGSTSDMGGPSGENIGKITPERGFTGHFPVRKI KDLFPEQFKILEDKLQKVVGHYIRRIEEQDFGKTKRYISDVILLQGQEHR DRCIRHLRQESGSYMGKLFIWVVETDHLHIVHDCPWSNGSCRCRILDVPF IRRHVQKSVRRTKYISELDRTDYEGILLYFIVSKWESEREIWIGRRIQRL PDQDEIVQWQDLSRTASELLARETEGGGHIGPEGSSYNDPRGSDIYEEFD GTSKKRRAIDDGPRRAKETKWTKILSKIQAVLTEFMPIPAVHVRDLLVGI PEYEYLHDPNIDKYYTNACSYYVNSISNFNFIDFYNLYNNRTPIFYANNL NPFSYYHTREDSFQYLNRLLTYQLGGDTDIVREFLFNMKEWFNRKGWTGN PKINAIAVIGPPNSGKNYFFDAVASIAYNVGHIGRVNNKTNNFALQECYS KRFIVGNEISMEEGAKEDFKKLCEGTALNIRVKYQGDKIYKKTPVLLISN SMLDICSDPAFKGIRLVTFTWNVAPFLRDSTLKPYPLAIFDLYNMYG VP1 MASEAVGWDRSIIDKFLKNRTTQEEEHRLLDYNEVDNEHFGIEETAFNGE PDYNYTSSGIYNSTSDISVGEGNVSRQRESIGSTNERNPNADGLRRRGGT RGSLRISPSEGAGASESVASGVGASVGAVSSASAVGAGSSLAAPTLLASA AIGTAAVGIGGYLTEKITNRRGYTLPGSDYVGPGNSIPIEAAKNPVDQIA RDHDLKYQEIQEKYEKGQIDKSSFVAEVKEADREAATRFAEESGIHAAIG KVGLDVKQTIEKLTGVLYPSVPGKI* VP2 MRAKNVMRGNNINWHVFAGDYRSIILFQKLKNHKARTIRLLRKLIRITST IILCHQSENNKLRLIVHLIHLVLPKAKKRKLTGTGQEQGNSNDVASDNSS LQRLPSPLVSIHSHIRYYRKVHRILTYGLAYRAISFKLNNTDNSRIGYIL STPLCEIPWDRMFLYINQGEFNVLPNGSTVNKIKCEIRTRNVRIAFPTNS TDNNLATLNQNKSTVHAVGLNLSLSTMPIKYTSFQANQPMIPTSMDKVDD SDYLNIHYNMYGMNYDITRVPRHQCGIPQVLPIYLGMVFAPFENQTDKTN VGWECLQEKVVENLAEDAMSRELISVEYEPLEGLCKTPITPKWYGIPQAA NKDKTSTVTVNYGPSEQSPQAKIITMNVNSEPHSYANSELKTDQNGYFGL TQKIERSQEIWRGIYPHTHPRAQPSLHVGVQPTVALSTKTLVLDDSNNSF TDTQGYFDVIAEMEINTQYPVYRPHIENCITGEGDFYVMRAATDESVPTF SGLYQV* Figure 3: The nucleotide sequence of the Apis ambidensovirus genome with encoded NS and VP proteins. Partial Apis densovirus genome was reconstructed from the two transcripts (GALO01034698 and GALO01020879). This genome is 4786 bp long, the gap in the middle of the genome is from 6 to 60 bp long (or 2 to 20 amino acids long); missing are ITRs. Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 116/2 – 2020 390 S. OTT RUTAR and D. KORDIŠ ATAAACACGATACTAGAATATCTCAGACATACCTCAATGGGTGATATCGGCGAATTGTTTTGTCGCGAGG ATATACCAGAAGAGTTCGAGACATTTGTGGATCAAGTAATAGCTGGTGAGTGCGAAAATGAATCAAATTT TGGATATATTGCCGAAAACCGATCTAACATTGGAGAAGCTTCATGTTCTGGAAATGTGCCTATGGAGATT AGCGAAAGAGTATATGGATTCTCAGAACAAGGATCAGCTGCTTATATGGTTCCACCGGGTGAAAGCATTA CAGCAACACAGAGAGATGCTGCTGAAAGACGAAAATTGCTCAGGCAAATATTCTTGGAAAGATTTGAGAG CCAGCATAGACGCAACTCAGTCTGCCATCAAATTTTTAGTAAAAGAAGTATCCCAGGAGCTAATGCTGAA ATTAAAAGAGTGGTACAAGGAAATTTTCGAGGAACAGCTTATTTGGTATGCGATCACGGAGACCACTATC ACATTGTGCACGACTGCCATAGATCAGGGCAAAGATGTCGCTGTCATCGACTCGACGAAACCAGGAACGT CTTCGGTCGAGCAGTGTCTGAACGAGTTGTTAGAGACAACATCTTCGACATCGAACATTGGATCAATCTC GCAGAGTATTTCCAAAAAGACGAACGGCACCTTATCTACATGGAAGTCTGCGGGAGAGAAAGGACTGAAT GTGTTCAAAATAGAAAAGTATTCGTTCAAGGAAGTGTCCAAGCTAGACAAGACGAAATGGTGGATGACAC CGTCAGCAGTGAGAGCCCTATTCGTGACTTCCTCTCCTTTGGATCCTGTGGCGATACATGCAGACCAAGT ACTGCTGCTGGGGACGAAGAGGTTGACCAAGCTGCCCGGAGTTCAGAAGGAGGAAAAACAACTAATGTCG AAAAATACATACGAAAGTTTCTCACGTCTCCAATAACACATTTACTATCTACATCATATTGGATTAATTC GAAGTACTATATGATCAATACACAATCTAATTGGTTTCAATGTGTTATGCGTAAGATATCTTTTTCATTT AATCGTATGACTATATACGAATTATTTCAATACGCTAAACCACTGGATATGGATAAGCTGCTATATAGTA GTCCTACGGAAATGATATTCGATTATTACTATGATATACGCACAAGTGTATACATTTTGGATGAGCTACT ACGATTCCAGATGCAAGATGAAGATGAAATTGTATCATTCTTGGAAGTTCTATTAGCTGTCTTGGATAAA TCAATACCGAAGAAGAATTGCTTACATATACAAGGACCACCATGTTCAGGGAAGAACCTATTCTTCGACT GTGTGACATCGTTTTGTATTAATTGCGGACACTTGGGCAATTTCAACAAGTATAATTCTTTTCCGATGAT GGATTGTATAGATAAACGTGTTATCATGTGGAATGAGCCTATCTTAGAAGTATCAGCACTCGAAACATTA AAAATGGTATTCGGTGGAGATACTTGTCCTGTTAAAGTTAAATATCTCGGAGATAAGTTATTGCTTCGTA CTCCGATTATCTGTTTATCGAATAATCAGCCATTTCCACAGGATGACGCATTTACCTGTCGTATGTTTAC TTACCAATGGCAACAATGTAATGATTTAAAGAAAGTATCAAAAAAACCTCATCCTTTAGCTTTTCCTTAC CTATTAATAAAATATAAGATATGGGAAGATGTAGAATTGAATGAGAAAGAAAAAGAATATTTATATTAAT AAACATTTATTCAGCATAATATATGTGTACATTTAATTTACAGTATCCTGACCCATATTACTTAGTCTAT CAAATTTATTTCCTAAATTACGACGAACAGGTCCCATCCTCTCATCATCCCTATATGCCATCTTATATTG AGCTGCTCTTGGTGGATTTGGTGGAGTGAAGTCCTCTGTTTGTGTTGATCTTGTAGCAGGTGGTTCAGGT GCTGGCATAGCAACCAATCCAGATAGTTGACAATATCCATTGTATGCTCTATTTCCAACCCATATAGTAG TATCTGATGGAAATTGTACTGTGCCATTCTCCGAATAGTATGATCCATGATGTAGTTCAACATCTAATTC AGCTTCAACTGCCCAATATGCAGATGTATTCTGGAATGTAGTACTATCCGATCCTGGAGTCATAGCTGGT ACTGCCTGAATTCCTATATGTATTTGTGGTTGTGCTTTAAATGGGAATCCTCCATTCTGGAAATTATGTC CACCTTTCTCCAAAAATTGTTCTACATTTGTTACGGGAGTAGAATTGTAATCATTTATTTTATCGCTTAT ATCTGTAGTATGTGCTGCACCTAATGTTGTACTATGATCTCCATTCTTTATTACTTCTAATGCAAATGCT CTAGTACGTGGACCACCATAATGTACATATCTTGTATGAACATTAGGAGGATTATAATAGGGTGCACTAA TAGGAGCATGTTTACACTTATACGTATAATTAACTACAGGTTTTCCTATTGCTGTGTTTATTAGAAATTG ATCTACAAATTGATCTTTACGCATCTGTCCGTGATTGTTAGTGAACACTGTTGCACCAGTCGTAGGTCCT GGACTAACAAATGCTGCATATCCCACTGTATGTCTTGTGACTAGATTAGTATGTGAATCATCCGCTCTAT AGTATTTGTTAATTATATCGCTAGCATTAATCAATGACATATTATTCGGTTTCATATTATCCATTGTTCC ATATGTACAATTTACAATTTCTGTATTTACATTCAGTCCTACAGATACTAATCCTATAGGTACAAATTCG TTAGTAGTATGTCCTGATGTTGTCCCTCCAAATTCAAACGCAGTACGAATACCGAGAGGTGTTACTTTAA CACGACATTCTTTAGCCCATGCATTATTTGGTAATTCTCTAAATTCGGTAGGTGATAAATAAAATCCAAC TAAATCTGTAGGTATTAAAGCTAATGGTGTTGTATAATAATCATCGCTGTTATTATTTATTCTCTTTGTA CATATTCCATAGCTGAAGAATATTCTATTCTTACGGAATGTAACAATAGATGGTTTAGGTGCAAGAGGTC TAGGTATAGTAACAATGTGTCCTACAGTGTGACTACCACTACTACGTCCACTAGCACCTGATGGACCAGA TGCTGCTAACACCTGATTATCATTCACACCATTTATACTTGGTACATCGAACTCCATGCCTTCTATATCG TTAAACAATCCCAATAGACTATTATCTGATCCCTGACTACTGTCTGGTTGTTGTATTTGTTCTTCTTGTT GTTCCTGTGGTACGTATTTACTTGTTCCTGGCTGATTTCTCTTTAATTCGTCCCAGGCGTCCTTTGAATG GGCTTGTTGTATCTCTCGAAAGGATAATCCTGTCTCTCTACTAGTATCTGCTAATTGTCTCTGTATTTGT GCGTACCTCTTTCTTTGTTCCAACTGTGCTGGTGTTGGTTGTCTTCTCTTCATATTAGGATATAACACTC CTGTCAAGGATTCTACACCATACTTAGCTGCTAATCCTGCAGCACCCAAATAACCATGTGGTGATTGTAA TTCCCAAAAATGTTTTATGGCGTCTCGATCTGCCTCTCTTATATCTTCCTCAGTCTTTGCACGATCATAC AAATTATCATGTATTCTCGCTATTTCATCGTCTTCATCCACTGGTTCACCGTTCTTCAATTTATTCCCTG GCCCTAAATAGCGATGGCCGTACCAATTCATACTGACTTATATCATCTCATCGCATGTCTTATATAGTCT GAATAGATCGTATGGTAGGGTGCTCCGAGAATCACAGGTAAACTATTATGATCTATTCCATCCTTACT Fig 4 continues on the next page Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 116/2 – 2020 391 Discovery and molecular characterisation of the first ambidensovirus in honey bees NS1 (70% aa id with Bombus cryptarum densovirus) INTILEYLRHTSMGDIGELFCREDIPEEFETFVDQVIAGECENESNFGYI AENRSNIGEASCSGNVPMEISERVYGFSEQGSAAYMVPPGESITATQRDA AERRKLLRQIFLERFESQHRRNSVCHQIFSKRSIPGANAEIKRVVQGNFR GTAYLVCDHGDHYHIVHDCHRSGQRCRCHRLDETRNVFGRAVSERVVRDN IFDIEHWINLAEYFQKDERHLIYMEVCGRERTECVQNRKVFVQGSVQARQ DEMVDDTVSSESPIRDFLSFGSCGDTCRPSTAAGDEEVDQAARSSEGGKT TNVEKYIRKFLTSPITHLLSTSYWINSKYYMINTQSNWFQCVMRKISFSF NRMTIYELFQYAKPLDMDKLLYSSPTEMIFDYYYDIRTSVYILDELLRFQ MQDEDEIVSFLEVLLAVLDKSIPKKNCLHIQGPPCSGKNLFFDCVTSFCI NCGHLGNFNKYNSFPMMDCIDKRVIMWNEPILEVSALETLKMVFGGDTCP VKVKYLGDKLLLRTPIICLSNNQPFPQDDAFTCRMFTYQWQQCNDLKKVS KKPHPLAFPYLLIKYKIWEDVELNEKEKEYLY* NS2 (76% aa id with Bombus cryptarum densovirus) MNQILDILPKTDLTLEKLHVLEMCLWRLAKEYMDSQNKDQLLIWFHRVKA LQQHREMLLKDENCSGKYSWKDLRASIDATQSAIKFLVKEVSQELMLKLK EWYKEIFEEQLIWYAITETTITLCTTAIDQGKDVAVIDSTKPGTSSVEQC LNELLETTSSTSNIGSISQSISKKTNGTLSTWKSAGEKGLNVFKIEKYSF KEVSKLDKTKWWMTPSAVRALFVTSSPLDPVAIHADQVLLLGTKRLTKLP GVQKEEKQLMSKNTYESFSRLQ* VP1 (59% aa id with Bombus cryptarum densovirus) MNWYGHRYLGPGNKLKNGEPVDEDDEIARIHDNLYDRAKTEEDIREADRD AIKHFWELQSPHGYLGAAGLAAKYGVESLTGVLYPNMKRRQPTPAQLEQR KRYAQIQRQLADTSRETGLSFREIQQAHSKDAWDELKRNQPGTSKYVPQE QQEEQIQQPDSSQGSDNSLLGLFNDIEGMEFDVPSINGVNDNQVLAASGP SGASGRSSGSHTVGHIVTIPRPLAPKPSIVTFRKNRIFFSYGICTKRINN NSDDYYTTPLALIPTDLVGFYLSPTEFRELPNNAWAKECRVKVTPLGIRT AFEFGGTTSGHTTNEFVPIGLVSVGLNVNTEIVNCTYGTMDNMKPNNMSL INASDIINKYYRADDSHTNLVTRHTVGYAAFVSPGPTTGATVFTNNHGQM RKDQFVDQFLINTAIGKPVVNYTYKCKHAPISAPYYNPPNVHTRYVHYGG PRTRAFALEVIKNGDHSTTLGAAHTTDISDKINDYNSTPVTNVEQFLEKG GHNFQNGGFPFKAQPQIHIGIQAVPAMTPGSDSTTFQNTSAYWAVEAELD VELHHGSYYSENGTVQFPSDTTIWVGNRAYNGYCQLSGLVAMPAPEPPAT RSTQTEDFTPPNPPRAAQYKMAYRDDERMGPVRRNLGNKFDRLSNMGQDT VN* Figure 4: The nucleotide sequence of the endogenised Bombus impatiens densovirus genome with encoded NS and VP proteins. Partial ambisense Bombus impatiens densovirus genome was obtained from the NCBI WGS database (AEQM02016195). This ge- nome is 3848 bp long, missing are ITRs. (Tijssen et al., 2016). In honey bees, brood diseases are common and are caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses (Brutscher et al., 2016). Until now, among the honey bee- infecting viruses, only the Sacbrood virus was connected with the honey bee brood disease (Brutscher et al., 2016). The question to be resolved is whether densoviruses in- fecting pollinators (honey bees and bumblebees) exert any detectable pathological effects on them. 3.6 INFORMATION ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE EASTERN HONEy BEE TRANSCRIPTOME The honey bee transcriptome in which we found the first Apis densovirus was erroneously classified as Apis mellifera carnica transcriptome (SRR922440, 52.177 con- tigs) and is still available under such name. It was produced from the whole heads of the workers by the researchers from the yangzhou University, Jiangsan Province, China (Ji et al., 2014). The analysis of the SRR922440 transcrip- tome showed that 86 % of contigs have strong signals to the Apis cerana and only 1.2 % to the Apis mellifera. Chi- na, the largest producer of honey, introduced A. mellifera (diverse subspecies, including carnica) besides the native A. cerana. Since the erroneous classification of transcrip- tomes is misleading, we also investigated the origin of the SRR922440 transcriptome with complete mitochondrial genomes of A. cerana and A. mellifera carnica. This analy- sis demonstrated that the SRR922440 transcriptome orig- inates from the Apis cerana, since numerous sequences show 99 % identity with the mitochondrial genome of A. cerana. The authors of this transcriptome (Ji et al., 2014) Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 116/2 – 2020 392 S. OTT RUTAR and D. KORDIŠ provided some information about the origin of the A. cerana colonies: M and C colonies were unrelated local strains in the same A. cerana population and were bred in the Guandong Entomological Institute, Guangzhou (also known in the West as the Canton), southern China. All Apis densovirus transcripts were obtained from the C colony that was Varroa resistant. No information about the health status of the bees was provided in the original reference (Ji et al., 2014). We checked if these bees were infected with some RNA viruses, discovering only a full- length Sacbrood virus in this transcriptome (in the se- quence GALO01042235). It should be noted that the ad- ditional A. cerana brain transcriptome is available at the NCBI TSA database (SRR361851), but shows the absence of the Apis densovirus. This transcriptome was produced by the researchers from the Fujian University: eastern honey bees originated from the Honey bee Research In- stitute, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, Jiangxi province, east China. The availability of diverse A. cerana transcriptomes therefore shows limited presence of Apis densovirus in southern China. 4 CONCLUSIONS Viruses, especially RNA viruses, pose a major threat to the survival of honey bees. Combined with additional stressors, the consequences for honey bees and agricul- ture can be extremely severe. Here, we present the first densovirus in honey bees, which can pose a potential threat to them. Densoviruses are often associated with high mortality and great economic losses in commer- cially important infected insects, such as farmed crickets and silk moths. Given that densoviruses have also been detected in bumblebees, their potential pathogenicity could pose a serious threat to diverse pollinators (honey bees and bumblebees) and consequently to agriculture. The availability of the nucleotide sequence for the honey bee and and bumblebee ambidensovirus genomes, its transcripts, and all coding proteins provides a good start- ing point for more detailed studies of the pathogenicity of densoviruses in honey bees and bumblebees. Research on the effects of infection on the survival of honey bee colo- nies is also needed, as larvae are the most common vic- tims of densoviruses in the majority of infected insects. We detected the densovirus only in eastern honey bees (Apis cerana) from southern China. Of course, this does not mean that this virus is not more widespread or that it lacks the potential to rapidly spread around the world. Dead larvae should be tested for the presence of the Apis densovirus. 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