Compositions for conferring tolerance to viral disease in social insects, and the use thereof

Abstract

Compositions and methods for reducing susceptibility to infectious disease in bees using RNA interference technology, and more particularly, prevention and treatment of viral infections in honeybees such as Israel acute paralysis virus (IAPV) by feeding of pathogen-specific dsRNA. Further, multiple-pathogen specific dsRNA is disclosed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for increasing the tolerance of a honeybee to a disease caused by a bee pathogen, comprising feeding the bee an effective amount of a bee-ingestible composition comprising a double stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) comprising an RNA sequence capable of hybridizing to an mRNA transcript encoding a polypeptide or a RNA target sequence of at least one bee pathogen, thereby increasing the tolerance of the honeybee to the disease. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one bee pathogen is selected from the group consisting of: Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV), Kashmir Bee Virus (KBV), Sacbrood virus (SBV), Black queen cell virus (BQCV), Kakugo virus (KV), Deformed wing virus (DWV) and Israel acute paralysis virus (IAPV). 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the dsRNA comprises an RNA sequence that is capable of hybridizing to an mRNA transcript encoding a polypeptide or a RNA target sequence of two or more bee pathogens. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the isolated dsRNA comprises an RNA sequence that is complementary to a nucleic acid comprising a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NOs: 24, 47, 49, 50 or 51. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the dsRNA is selected from the group consisting of siRNA, shRNA and miRNA. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the bee-ingestible composition is in solid form. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the bee-ingestible composition is in liquid Form. 
     
     
         8 . The method or  claim 1 , wherein the bee-ingestible composition comprises a protein. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the honeybee is a member of a colony, and wherein providing the bee-ingestible composition to the honeybee increases the tolerance of the colony to the disease. 
     
     
         10 . A tee-ingestible composition comprising a double stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) comprising an RNA sequence complementary to a nucleic acid comprising a nucleotide sequence that is highly homologous to a nucleotide sequence of at least one bee virus. 
     
     
         11 . The bee-ingestible composition of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one bee virus is selected from the group consisting of: Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV), Kashmir Bee Virus (KBV), Sacbrood virus (SBV), Black queen cell virus (BQCV), Kakugo virus (KV), Deformed wing virus (DWV) and Israel acute paralysis virus (IAPV). 
     
     
         12 . The bee-ingestible composition of  CLAIM 10 , wherein the dsRNA comprises an RNA sequence that is complementary to a nucleotide sequence that is highly homologous to a nucleotide sequence of two or more bee viruses. 
     
     
         13 . The bee-ingestible composition of  claim 10 , wherein the dsRNA comprises an RNA sequence that is complementary to a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 24, 47, 49, 50 and 51. 
     
     
         14 . The bee-ingestible composition of  claim 10 , wherein the composition is in solid form. 
     
     
         15 . The bee-ingestible composition of  claim 10 , wherein said composition is in liquid form. 
     
     
         16 . The bee-ingestible composition of  claim 10 , wherein the composition comprises a protein. 
     
     
         17 . The bee-ingestible composition of  claim 10 , wherein the composition comprises a carbohydrate or sugar supplement. 
     
     
         18 . The bee-ingestible composition of  claim 10 , wherein the dsRNA is selected from the group consisting of siRNA, shRNA and miRNA. 
     
     
         19 . A nucleic acid construct comprising a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding the dsRNA of  claim 10 . 
     
     
         20 . The nucleic acid construct of  claim 19 , wherein the dsRNA comprises an RNA sequence that is complementary to SEQ ID NO: 24.