Varroa destructor changes its cuticular hydrocarbons to mimic new hosts

Varroa destructor (Vd) is a honeybee ectoparasite. Its original host is the Asian honeybee, Apis cerana, but it has also become a severe, global threat to the European honeybee, Apis mellifera. Previous studies have shown that Varroa can mimic a host's cuticular hydrocarbons (HC), enabling the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biology letters (2005) 2015-06, Vol.11 (6), p.20150233-20150233
Main Authors: Le Conte, Y., Huang, Z. Y., Roux, M., Zeng, Z. J., Christidès, J.-P., Bagnères, A.-G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Behaviour
Animals
Apis cerana
Apis mellifera
Bees - parasitology
Biological Mimicry
Cuticular Hydrocarbons
Honeybees
Host Specificity
Hydrocarbons - metabolism
Life Sciences
Mimicry
Pheromones - metabolism
Varroa destructor
Varroidae - physiology
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Summary:Varroa destructor (Vd) is a honeybee ectoparasite. Its original host is the Asian honeybee, Apis cerana, but it has also become a severe, global threat to the European honeybee, Apis mellifera. Previous studies have shown that Varroa can mimic a host's cuticular hydrocarbons (HC), enabling the parasite to escape the hygienic behaviour of the host honeybees. By transferring mites between the two honeybee species, we further demonstrate that Vd is able to mimic the cuticular HC of a novel host species when artificially transferred to this new host. Mites originally from A. cerana are more efficient than mites from A. mellifera in mimicking HC of both A. cerana and A. mellifera. This remarkable adaptability may explain their relatively recent host-shift from A. cerana to A. mellifera.
ISSN:1744-9561
1744-957X
DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2015.0233