Honey bees are important plant pollinators that are readily infected with RNA viruses.

<p>Honey bees (<i>Apis mellifera</i>) are eusocial insects that live in large colonies that are composed of sterile female worker bees (~35,000), hundreds of male bees (drones), and a single reproductive female, the queen bee. Beekeepers manage millions of bee colonies for honey production and pollination of numerous fruit, nut, vegetable, and oilseed crops. High losses of bee colonies in North America and some parts of Europe have led researchers to examine the role of multiple stressors, including RNA viruses, on bee health at both the individual and colony levels. Figure photo credits: honey bee and almond flower (middle left) by Christi Heintz, queen bee and attendants (center) and worker bee and honey (middle right) by Kathy K. Garvey, and Lake Sinai virus 2 (LSV2) transmission electron microscope image (lower left) by Sue Brumfield. Noun Project icon credits: bee hive (middle left) by Les vieux garcons, beekeeper (top right) by Luis Prado, and cherry, almonds, and apple by May Irine, Thomas Knopp, and Andrea Bobadilla, respectively.</p