Deformed Wing Virus interacts with host's arginine kinase to enhance viral replication in honey bees

Dataset used to plot the figures presented in the manuscript "Deformed Wing Virus interacts with host’s arginine kinase to enhance viral replication in honey bees".

Abstract

Deformed wing virus (DWV) is a major bee pathogen that is actively transmitted by the parasitic mite Varroa destructor and plays a primary role in winter Apis mellifera colony losses. Despite intense investigation of this essential pollinator species, driven by its unique environmental and economic importance, the mechanisms underlying the molecular interactions between DWV and honey bees are still poorly understood. Here we report on a group of honey bee proteins, identified by mass spectrometry, that specifically co-immunoprecipitate with DWV virus particles. Most of the proteins identified are involved in fundamental metabolic pathways. Here we focused on Arginine kinase (ArgK), a conserved protein playing multiple roles both in physiological and pathological processes. We found that ArgK RNA levels positively correlate with DWV load in field-collected honey-bee larvae and adults and significantly increase in larvae and adults upon DWV injection in controlled laboratory conditions, indicating that the ArgK gene was upregulated by DWV infection. Silencing ArgK gene expression in vitro, using RNAi, resulted in reduced DWV viral load, thus demonstrating that ArgK function promotes the progression of DWV infection, likely altering the delicate balance between metabolism and immunity.  In summary, these data indicate that successful DWV infection relies on transcriptional regulation and active recruitment of host ArgK by this viral pathogen. Therefore, our findings open novel perspectives on the potential control of DWV pathogenicity by targeting its interaction with specific host proteins.