Bidirectional Transfer of RNAi between Honey Bee and Varroa destructor: Varroa Gene Silencing Reduces Varroa Population

PLoS Pathogens

Yael Garbian¹  Haim Kalev¹  Sharoni Shafir¹  Ilan Sela¹  Eyal Maori¹ 

[1] The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Rehovot, Israel

关键词: Bees;    Mites;    Honey bees;    RNA extraction;    Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction;    Small interfering RNAs;    RNA interference;    Sucrose;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.ppat.1003035

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

The mite Varroa destructor is an obligatory ectoparasite of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) and is one of the major threats to apiculture worldwide. We previously reported that honey bees fed on double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) with a sequence homologous to that of the Israeli acute paralysis virus are protected from the viral disease. Here we show that dsRNA ingested by bees is transferred to the Varroa mite and from mite on to a parasitized bee. This cross-species, reciprocal exchange of dsRNA between bee and Varroa engendered targeted gene silencing in the latter, and resulted in an over 60% decrease in the mite population. Thus, transfer of gene-silencing-triggering molecules between this invertebrate host and its ectoparasite could lead to a conceptually novel approach to Varroa control.

【 授权许可】

CC BY