Workflow of Lotmaria passim isolation: Experimental infection with a low-passage strain causes higher honeybee mortality rates than the PRA-403 reference strain.

Buendía-Abad, MaríaHiges, MarianoMartín-Hernández, RaquelBarrios, LauraMeana, AranzazuFernández Fernández, AlbertoOsuna, AntonioDe Pablos, Luis Miguel2025-01-072025-01-072020-12-312213-2244https://hdl.handle.net/10668/27116The 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.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Experimental infectionHoneybeeIsolationLotmaria passimLow-passageTrypanosomatidWorkflow of Lotmaria passim isolation: Experimental infection with a low-passage strain causes higher honeybee mortality rates than the PRA-403 reference strain.research article33532238open access10.1016/j.ijppaw.2020.12.003PMC7829110https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijppaw.2020.12.003https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7829110/pdf