Cold case The disappearance of Egypt bee virus, a fourth distinct master strain of deformed wing virus linked to honeybee mortality in 1970’s Egypt

De Miranda, J. R., Brettell, L. E., Chejanovsky, N., Childers, A. K., Dalmon, A., Deboutte, W., De Graaf, D. C., Doublet, V., Gebremedhn, H., Genersch, E., +20 more...Gisder, S., Granberg, F., Haddad, N. J., Kaden, R., Manley, R., Matthijnssens, J., Meeus, I., Migdadi, H., Milbrath, M. O., Mondet, F., Remnant, E. J., Roberts, J. M. K., Ryabov, E. V., Sela, N., Smagghe, G., Somanathan, H., Wilfert, L., Wright, O. N., Martin, S. J. and Brenda, V. Ball (2022) Cold case The disappearance of Egypt bee virus, a fourth distinct master strain of deformed wing virus linked to honeybee mortality in 1970’s Egypt. Virology Journal, 19 (1). p. 12. 10.1186/s12985-022-01740-2

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In 1977, a sample of diseased adult honeybees (Apis mellifera) from Egypt was found to contain large amounts of a previously unknown virus, Egypt bee virus, which was subsequently shown to be serologically related to deformed wing virus (DWV). By sequencing the original isolate, we demonstrate that Egypt bee virus is in fact a fourth unique, major variant of DWV (DWV-D): more closely related to DWV-C than to either DWV-A or DWV-B. DWV-A and DWV-B are the most common DWV variants worldwide due to their close relationship and transmission by Varroa destructor. However, we could not find any trace of DWV-D in several hundred RNA sequencing libraries from a worldwide selection of honeybee, varroa and bumblebee samples. This means that DWV-D has either become extinct, been replaced by other DWV variants better adapted to varroa-mediated transmission, or persists only in a narrow geographic or host range, isolated from common bee and beekeeping trade routes.

Item Type	Article
Open Access	Gold
Additional information	Financial support from the following sources is gratefully acknowledged: EU-STREP grant FOOD-CT-2006-022568, STSM grants 4184 & 4358 from EU-COST-Action FA0803, CB Dennis Foundation, FORMAS grant 219-2009-176 (JRM, RK); EU grants acc. to regulations 1234/2007 and 1308/2013, EU FP7 grant FP7-KBBE.2013.1.3-02 (EG, GS); USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant 2017-06481 (AKC, EVR); USAID grants M29-075, M32-02 and M32-035 (HM, NH); Australian & Pacific Science Foundation grant APSF15-02 and Marie Bashir Institute seed funding 2014 (EJR); Hort Innovation grant PH15001 (LEB); BBSRC grant BB/N000625/1 (LW); intramural grants from IISER-TVM (HS); the Research Foundation–Flanders (IM, GS); Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council SWBio Doctoral Training Partnership training grant BB/M009122/1 (ONW); AgriFutures Australia grant PRJ-8540 (JMKR); FORMAS grant 2016-01356 (FG).
Project	BB/M009122/1
Date Deposited	05 Dec 2025 10:31
Last Modified	19 Dec 2025 14:55