<i>Varroa</i> infestation and DWV genome copies in infested bees and the effect of viral load on bee survival.

Abstract

<p>(<b>A</b>) Number of DWV genome copies in honeybees larvae artificially infested with different numbers of <i>V. destructor</i> mites, for different time intervals; the error bars indicate the standard error. (<b>B</b>) Survival of honeybees larvae injected with two different dilutions (1∶1,000 and 1∶100,000) of a whole body lysate of bees with deformed wings (DW) and of bees with normal wings as control (NW). Infestation by the <i>Varroa</i> mite caused increasing number of DWV genome copies in infected bees, this significantly affected bee longevity.</p