%0 Journal Article %A de Miranda, Joachim R. %A Dainat, Benjamin %A Locke, Barbara %A Cordoni, Guido %A Berthoud, Helène %A Gauthier, Laurent %A Neumann, Peter %A Budge, Giles E. %A Ball, Brenda V. %A Stoltz, Don B. %T Genetic characterization of slow bee paralysis virus of the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) %D 2010 %J Journal of General Virology, %V 91 %N 10 %P 2524-2530 %@ 1465-2099 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.022434-0 %I Microbiology Society, %X Complete genome sequences were determined for two distinct strains of slow bee paralysis virus (SBPV) of honeybees (Apis mellifera). The SBPV genome is approximately 9.5 kb long and contains a single ORF flanked by 5′- and 3′-UTRs and a naturally polyadenylated 3′ tail, with a genome organization typical of members of the family Iflaviridae. The two strains, labelled ‘Rothamsted’ and ‘Harpenden’, are 83 % identical at the nucleotide level (94 % identical at the amino acid level), although this variation is distributed unevenly over the genome. The two strains were found to co-exist at different proportions in two independently propagated SBPV preparations. The natural prevalence of SBPV for 847 colonies in 162 apiaries across five European countries was <2 %, with positive samples found only in England and Switzerland, in colonies with variable degrees of Varroa infestation. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.022434-0