Transcriptome profiling of the honey bee parasite Varroa destructor

The ecto-parasitic mite Varroa destructor is the most important threat of honey bee health worldwide. This mite produces the weakening of colonies by parasitizing brood and adult bees and transmitting harmful viruses. Despite its impact on honey bee health has been extensively studied, less is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms that govern its reproduction inside the honey bee brood cells. We sequenced V. destructor transcriptomes of adult mites presenting different reproductive status (reproducing, non-reproducing) and phases (inside the honey bee brood cells and phoretic mites)

体外寄生螨狄斯瓦螨（Varroa destructor）是全球范围内威胁蜜蜂健康的最主要有害生物。该螨通过寄生蜜蜂幼虫与成蜂，并传播致病性病毒，引发蜂群群势衰弱。尽管学界已对该螨对蜜蜂健康的影响开展了大量研究，但对于其在蜜蜂幼虫巢房内繁殖的核心分子调控机制，目前仍所知甚少。本研究对具有不同繁殖状态（可繁殖、不可繁殖）以及不同生存阶段（蜜蜂幼虫巢房内个体与携播螨（phoretic mite）个体）的成体狄斯瓦螨开展了转录组（transcriptome）测序。