Genetic Variability of the Neogregarine Apicystis bombi, an Etiological Agent of an Emergent Bumblebee Disease

Autores
Maharramov, Jafar; Meeus, Ivan; Maebe, Kevin; Arbetman, Marina; Morales, Carolina; Graystock, Peter; Hughes, William O. H.; Plischuk, Santiago; Lange, Carlos Ernesto; De Graaf, Dirk C.; Zapata, Nelson; Perez de la Rosa, Jose Javier; Murray, Tomás E.; Brown, Mark J. F.; Smagghe, Guy
Año de publicación
2013
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
The worldwide spread of diseases is considered a major threat to biodiversity and a possible driver of the decline of pollinator populations, particularly when novel species or strains of parasites emerge. Previous studies have suggested that populations of introduced European honeybee (Apis mellifera) and bumblebee species (Bombus terrestris and Bombus ruderatus) in Argentina share the neogregarine parasite Apicystis bombi with the native bumblebee (Bombus dahlbomii). In this study we investigated whether A. bombi is acting as an emergent parasite in the non-native populations. Specifically, we asked whether A. bombi, recently identified in Argentina, was introduced by European, non-native bees. Using ITS1 and ITS2 to assess the parasite's intraspecific genetic variation in bees from Argentina and Europe, we found a largely unstructured parasite population, with only 15% of the genetic variation being explained by geographic location. The most abundant haplotype in Argentina (found in all 9 specimens of non-native species) was identical to the most abundant haplotype in Europe (found in 6 out of 8 specimens). Similarly, there was no evidence of structuring by host species, with this factor explaining only 17% of the genetic variation. Interestingly, parasites in native Bombus ephippiatus from Mexico were genetically distant from the Argentine and European samples, suggesting that sufficient variability does exist in the ITS region to identify continent-level genetic structure in the parasite. Thus, the data suggest that A. bombi from Argentina and Europe share a common, relatively recent origin. Although our data did not provide information on the direction of transfer, the absence of genetic structure across space and host species suggests that A. bombi may be acting as an emergent infectious disease across bee taxa and continents.
Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores
Materia
Biología
Parasite
Apicystis bombi
Bombus dahlbomii
Genetic variation
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Repositorio
SEDICI (UNLP)
Institución
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
OAI Identificador
oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/85425

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network_name_str SEDICI (UNLP)
spelling Genetic Variability of the Neogregarine Apicystis bombi, an Etiological Agent of an Emergent Bumblebee DiseaseMaharramov, JafarMeeus, IvanMaebe, KevinArbetman, MarinaMorales, CarolinaGraystock, PeterHughes, William O. H.Plischuk, SantiagoLange, Carlos ErnestoDe Graaf, Dirk C.Zapata, NelsonPerez de la Rosa, Jose JavierMurray, Tomás E.Brown, Mark J. F.Smagghe, GuyBiologíaParasiteApicystis bombiBombus dahlbomiiGenetic variationThe worldwide spread of diseases is considered a major threat to biodiversity and a possible driver of the decline of pollinator populations, particularly when novel species or strains of parasites emerge. Previous studies have suggested that populations of introduced European honeybee (Apis mellifera) and bumblebee species (Bombus terrestris and Bombus ruderatus) in Argentina share the neogregarine parasite Apicystis bombi with the native bumblebee (Bombus dahlbomii). In this study we investigated whether A. bombi is acting as an emergent parasite in the non-native populations. Specifically, we asked whether A. bombi, recently identified in Argentina, was introduced by European, non-native bees. Using ITS1 and ITS2 to assess the parasite's intraspecific genetic variation in bees from Argentina and Europe, we found a largely unstructured parasite population, with only 15% of the genetic variation being explained by geographic location. The most abundant haplotype in Argentina (found in all 9 specimens of non-native species) was identical to the most abundant haplotype in Europe (found in 6 out of 8 specimens). Similarly, there was no evidence of structuring by host species, with this factor explaining only 17% of the genetic variation. Interestingly, parasites in native Bombus ephippiatus from Mexico were genetically distant from the Argentine and European samples, suggesting that sufficient variability does exist in the ITS region to identify continent-level genetic structure in the parasite. Thus, the data suggest that A. bombi from Argentina and Europe share a common, relatively recent origin. Although our data did not provide information on the direction of transfer, the absence of genetic structure across space and host species suggests that A. bombi may be acting as an emergent infectious disease across bee taxa and continents.Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores2013info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionArticulohttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/85425enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1932-6203info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0081475info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)instname:Universidad Nacional de La Platainstacron:UNLP2025-09-29T11:16:29Zoai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/85425Institucionalhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/Universidad públicaNo correspondehttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/oai/snrdalira@sedici.unlp.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:13292025-09-29 11:16:29.996SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Platafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Genetic Variability of the Neogregarine Apicystis bombi, an Etiological Agent of an Emergent Bumblebee Disease
title Genetic Variability of the Neogregarine Apicystis bombi, an Etiological Agent of an Emergent Bumblebee Disease
spellingShingle Genetic Variability of the Neogregarine Apicystis bombi, an Etiological Agent of an Emergent Bumblebee Disease
Maharramov, Jafar
Biología
Parasite
Apicystis bombi
Bombus dahlbomii
Genetic variation
title_short Genetic Variability of the Neogregarine Apicystis bombi, an Etiological Agent of an Emergent Bumblebee Disease
title_full Genetic Variability of the Neogregarine Apicystis bombi, an Etiological Agent of an Emergent Bumblebee Disease
title_fullStr Genetic Variability of the Neogregarine Apicystis bombi, an Etiological Agent of an Emergent Bumblebee Disease
title_full_unstemmed Genetic Variability of the Neogregarine Apicystis bombi, an Etiological Agent of an Emergent Bumblebee Disease
title_sort Genetic Variability of the Neogregarine Apicystis bombi, an Etiological Agent of an Emergent Bumblebee Disease
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Maharramov, Jafar
Meeus, Ivan
Maebe, Kevin
Arbetman, Marina
Morales, Carolina
Graystock, Peter
Hughes, William O. H.
Plischuk, Santiago
Lange, Carlos Ernesto
De Graaf, Dirk C.
Zapata, Nelson
Perez de la Rosa, Jose Javier
Murray, Tomás E.
Brown, Mark J. F.
Smagghe, Guy
author Maharramov, Jafar
author_facet Maharramov, Jafar
Meeus, Ivan
Maebe, Kevin
Arbetman, Marina
Morales, Carolina
Graystock, Peter
Hughes, William O. H.
Plischuk, Santiago
Lange, Carlos Ernesto
De Graaf, Dirk C.
Zapata, Nelson
Perez de la Rosa, Jose Javier
Murray, Tomás E.
Brown, Mark J. F.
Smagghe, Guy
author_role author
author2 Meeus, Ivan
Maebe, Kevin
Arbetman, Marina
Morales, Carolina
Graystock, Peter
Hughes, William O. H.
Plischuk, Santiago
Lange, Carlos Ernesto
De Graaf, Dirk C.
Zapata, Nelson
Perez de la Rosa, Jose Javier
Murray, Tomás E.
Brown, Mark J. F.
Smagghe, Guy
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Biología
Parasite
Apicystis bombi
Bombus dahlbomii
Genetic variation
topic Biología
Parasite
Apicystis bombi
Bombus dahlbomii
Genetic variation
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv The worldwide spread of diseases is considered a major threat to biodiversity and a possible driver of the decline of pollinator populations, particularly when novel species or strains of parasites emerge. Previous studies have suggested that populations of introduced European honeybee (Apis mellifera) and bumblebee species (Bombus terrestris and Bombus ruderatus) in Argentina share the neogregarine parasite Apicystis bombi with the native bumblebee (Bombus dahlbomii). In this study we investigated whether A. bombi is acting as an emergent parasite in the non-native populations. Specifically, we asked whether A. bombi, recently identified in Argentina, was introduced by European, non-native bees. Using ITS1 and ITS2 to assess the parasite's intraspecific genetic variation in bees from Argentina and Europe, we found a largely unstructured parasite population, with only 15% of the genetic variation being explained by geographic location. The most abundant haplotype in Argentina (found in all 9 specimens of non-native species) was identical to the most abundant haplotype in Europe (found in 6 out of 8 specimens). Similarly, there was no evidence of structuring by host species, with this factor explaining only 17% of the genetic variation. Interestingly, parasites in native Bombus ephippiatus from Mexico were genetically distant from the Argentine and European samples, suggesting that sufficient variability does exist in the ITS region to identify continent-level genetic structure in the parasite. Thus, the data suggest that A. bombi from Argentina and Europe share a common, relatively recent origin. Although our data did not provide information on the direction of transfer, the absence of genetic structure across space and host species suggests that A. bombi may be acting as an emergent infectious disease across bee taxa and continents.
Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores
description The worldwide spread of diseases is considered a major threat to biodiversity and a possible driver of the decline of pollinator populations, particularly when novel species or strains of parasites emerge. Previous studies have suggested that populations of introduced European honeybee (Apis mellifera) and bumblebee species (Bombus terrestris and Bombus ruderatus) in Argentina share the neogregarine parasite Apicystis bombi with the native bumblebee (Bombus dahlbomii). In this study we investigated whether A. bombi is acting as an emergent parasite in the non-native populations. Specifically, we asked whether A. bombi, recently identified in Argentina, was introduced by European, non-native bees. Using ITS1 and ITS2 to assess the parasite's intraspecific genetic variation in bees from Argentina and Europe, we found a largely unstructured parasite population, with only 15% of the genetic variation being explained by geographic location. The most abundant haplotype in Argentina (found in all 9 specimens of non-native species) was identical to the most abundant haplotype in Europe (found in 6 out of 8 specimens). Similarly, there was no evidence of structuring by host species, with this factor explaining only 17% of the genetic variation. Interestingly, parasites in native Bombus ephippiatus from Mexico were genetically distant from the Argentine and European samples, suggesting that sufficient variability does exist in the ITS region to identify continent-level genetic structure in the parasite. Thus, the data suggest that A. bombi from Argentina and Europe share a common, relatively recent origin. Although our data did not provide information on the direction of transfer, the absence of genetic structure across space and host species suggests that A. bombi may be acting as an emergent infectious disease across bee taxa and continents.
publishDate 2013
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2013
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
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format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/85425
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dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1932-6203
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0081475
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
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instname:Universidad Nacional de La Plata
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