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Heterotrophic bacteria associated with Varroa destructor mite

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Abstract

Varroa bee hive attack is a serious and common problem in bee keeping. In our work, an ecto-microflora of Varroa destructor mites was characterised as a potential source of bacterial bee diseases. Using a cultivation approach, a variable population of bacteria was isolated from the body surface of Varroa mites with frequency of about 150 cfu per mite individual. Nine studied isolates were classified to four genera and six species by a combination of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF)- and 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA)-based methods, suggesting relatively low diversity of Varroa mite-associated ecto-microflora. The Varroa mite-associated bacterial population was found to be dominated by Gram-positive bacteria of Bacillus and Microbacterium genera. Gram-negative bacteria were represented by members of Brevundimonas and Rhizobium genera. Most of the identified species are not known to be associated with Varroa mite, either honey bee or honey up until now and some of them are probably representatives of new bacterial taxa.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Slovak Grant Agency VEGA, grant no. VEGA 2/0016/12.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, Institute of Biology and Ecology, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Mánesova 23, 040 01, Košice, Slovakia

    Slavomira Vanikova & Peter Pristas

  2. Institute of Animal Physiology, Slovak Academy of Science, Šoltésovej 4-6, 040 01, Košice, Slovakia

    Slavomira Vanikova, Peter Pristas & Peter Javorsky

  3. Department of Biology and Ecology, Matej Bel University, Tajovského 40, 974 01, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia

    Alzbeta Noskova & Jana Judova

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  1. Slavomira Vanikova
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  2. Alzbeta Noskova
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  5. Peter Javorsky
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Correspondence to Peter Pristas.

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Manuscript editor: Yves Le Conte

Bactéries hétérotrophes associées à Varroa destructor

Varroa destructor/ Acari/ Microbacterium/ microflore externe/ hétérotrophie

Die Assoziation heterotropher Bakterien mit der Milbe Varroa destructor

Varroa destructor/ Ekto-Mikroflora/ Microbacterium/ heterotrophe Bakterien

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Vanikova, S., Noskova, A., Pristas, P. et al. Heterotrophic bacteria associated with Varroa destructor mite. Apidologie 46, 369–379 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-014-0327-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-014-0327-9

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