Comparison of genomic rnA sequences of different isolates of thai Sac Brood Virus attacking Indian honeybee, Apis cerana indica Fab. in tamil nadu by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction method

A variant of SBV known as thai Sac Brood Virus (tSBV) infects larvae of the Indian honeybee (Apis cerana indica F.), resulting in failure to pupate and death. rt-Pcr method was used to detect the tSBV infection in honeybee larvae originating from geographically distinct regions. Presence of TSBV was confirmed with two sets of forward and reverse primers of SBV. The RT-PCR assay proved to be a rapid, specific, and sensitive diagnostic tool for the direct detection of tSBV nucleic acid in samples of infected honeybees and brood regardless of geographic origin. Sequencing of amplification products and phylogenetic analysis suggested that the tSBV infecting A. cerana indica collected from two locations in tamil nadu even though distinct from one another belonged to the same cluster and had maximum similarity with one another and a Bangalore strain. However the present samples showed lesser relationship with uK and Japan strains.