Isolation, cultivation and identification of deformed wing virus of honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) in the Republic of Belarus

Abstract

The complexity of diagnosing viral infections of bees is due to the lack of cultures of honeybee cells, collections of strains of viruses pathogenic for honeybees and test systems for molecular genetic identification. Of all the viruses found in the honeybee Apis mellifera L., the deformed wing virus has become the most common. For the first time in the Republic of Belarus, employees of the RUE ((Institute of Experimental Veterinary Medicine named S.N. Vyshelesky» isolated a deformed wing virus from the tissues of a honeybee using a primary trypsinized culture of chicken embryo fibroblast cells and carried out its molecular genetic identification.