Insights into the virome of the small hive beetle, Aethina tumida

The small hive beetle (SHB), Aethina tumida Murray is an invasive pest of the honey bee. We aimed to characterize the virome of SHB to 1) address the potential role of SHB in honey bee virus transmission, and 2) identify SHB viruses with potential for use in biological control of this pest.We characterized the virome of SHB by sequencing the transcriptomes and small RNAs of SHB collected from multiple geographical regions: Adult and larval SHB were collected from midwestern (Illinois, Ohio) and southern (Florida, Texas) states of the USA, and from South Africa for transcriptomic sequencing. Small RNAs were sequenced for adult beetles from Florida and Ohio, for larvae from Florida, and for an SHB-derived cell line (BCIRL-AtumEN-1129).