Evolutionarily diverse origins of honey bee deformed wing viruses

Ectoparasitic Varroa mites vector a diverse range of ssRNA viruses and have experienced host switch from the eastern to western honey bees. This host switch makes this system an interesting study to explore how novel transmission routes shape disease epidemiology. Most notable of the ssRNA viruses the Varroa mite vectors are the Deformed Wing Viruses, -A, -B, and -C. This project collected Varroa mites from over 50 regions of the world, collected between 1980s to 2019, in order to understand the dynamic nature of viral adaptation following vector host switch.