Workflow of Lotmaria passim isolation: Experimental infection with a low-passage strain causes higher honeybee mortality rates than the PRA-403 reference strain
María Buendía‐Abad, Mariano Higes, Raquel Martín‐Hernández, Laura Barrios, Aránzazu Meana, Alberto Fernández, Antonio Osuna, Luis Miguel De Pablos
Abstract
The impact of trypanosomatid parasites on honeybee health may represent a major threat to bee colonies worldwide. However, few axenic isolates have been generated to date and with no details on cell culture passages, a parameter that could influence parasite virulence. To address this question, a trypanosomatid isolation protocol was developed and a new strain was obtained, named L. passim C1. Using experimental infection of worker honeybees, we compared the virulence and mortality rates of the ATCC PRA-403 reference strain and C1 strain, the latter showing higher virulence from 10 days post-infection onward. This study highlights the impact of cell culture passages on the pathogenicity of L. passim in honeybees, providing new evidence of its negative effects on honeybee health.