Antiviral activities of a medicinal plant extract against Sacbrood virus in honeybees

Authors: SUN, LIPING - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; ZHANG, XUEQI - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; XU, SHUFA - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; HOU, CHUNSHENG - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; XU, JIN - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; ZHAO, DONGXIANG - Chinese Academy Of Tropical Agricultural Sciences; Chen, Yanping - Judy

Submitted to: Virology Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/8/2021
Publication Date: 4/21/2021
Citation: Sun, L., Zhang, X., Xu, S., Hou, C., Xu, J., Zhao, D., Chen, Y. 2021. Antiviral activities of a medicinal plant extract against Sacbrood virus in honeybees. Virology Journal. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12985-021-01550-y.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12985-021-01550-y

Interpretive Summary: Sacbrood is an infectious honeybee disease caused by the Sacbrood virus (SBV) and is especially lethal for Asian honeybees. So far, there is no effective treatment available for SBV infection. In this study, we investigated the antiviral properties of a traditional Chinese medicinal herb called Ban Lag Gen, which has been used for the prevention and treatment of human diseases for combating Chinese SBV (CSBV) infection in Asian honeybees. Our results showed that Ban Lag Gen could reduce CSBV infection and increase the survival rate of infected honeybees, demonstrating that it can be a significant antiviral therapeutic agent in inhibiting virus infection. The information obtained from this study will be of interest to scientists in bee research societies, as well as to the beekeeping community at large.

Technical Abstract: Sacbrood is an infectious disease of the honeybee caused by Scbrood virus (SBV) and is especially lethal for Asian honeybee Apis cerana. Chinese Sacbrood virus (CSBV) is a geographic strain of SBV causing the most deadly and devastating disease in Chinese honeybee A. cerana and poses a significant threat to the beekeeping industry that replied on A. cerana for pollination service. However, there is a lack of an effective antiviral agent for controlling CSBV infection in honeybees. Here, we explored the antiviral effect of a Chinese medicinal herb Radix isatidis (Isatis indingtica Fort.) extract on CSBV infection in A. cerana. In vitro bioassays revealed that R. isatidis extract significantly inhibited the replication of CSBV, mitigated the impacts of CSBV on larval growth and development, reduced the mortality of CSBV-infected A. cerana larvae, and modulated the expression level of immune transcripts in infected bees. Although the mechanism underlying inhibition of CSBV replication by the medicine plant is not fully understood and will require further study, this study demonstrated the antiviral activity of R. isatidis extract and provides a potential strategy for controlling SBV infection in honeybees.