Viruses are significant threats to the health and well‐being of the honey bee, Apis mellifera . To alleviate the threats posed by these invasive organisms, a better understanding of bee viral infections will be of crucial importance in developing effective and environmentally benign disease control strategies. Although knowledge of honey bee viruses has been accumulated considerably in the past three decades, a comprehensive review to compile the various aspects of bee viruses at the molecular level has not been reported. This chapter summarizes recent progress in the understanding of the morphology, genome organization, transmission, epidemiology, and pathogenesis of honey bee viruses as well as their interactions with their honey bee hosts. The future prospects of research of honey bee viruses are also discussed in detail. The chapter has been designed to provide researchers in the field with updated information about honey bee viruses and to serve as a starting point for future research.

Honey bee viruses.

Food futurists accept that sustainability-minded humanity will increasingly incorporate insects as alternative protein. The most studied and easily reared species are not necessarily the most sustainable, acceptable, or delicious. Here, we review the literature on the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens, which is capable of efficiently converting a wide variety of organic materials, from food waste to manure, into insect biomass. They can be grown and harvested without dedicated facilities and are not pestiferous. Their larvae are 42% crude protein and 29% fat, although they are higher in saturated fats than most insects. They do not concentrate pesticides or mycotoxins. They are already grown and recommended for use as animal feed, but with regional legal restrictions on how this is done. For commercial use in human foods, larvae could potentially be milled and converted into a textured protein with a strong flavor. Their biggest advantage over other insects is their ability to convert waste into food, generating value and closing nutrient loops as they reduce pollution and costs. This general advantage is also their greatest disadvantage, for the social stigmas and legal prohibitions against eating organisms that eat waste are added to extant taboos facing insect consumption.

Review of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) as Animal Feed and Human Food

Publisher Summary This chapter updates former reviews on locust polyphenism and also discusses recent findings. Over 200 articles were published in scientific journals on various aspects of locust phase polyphenism, markedly advancing the knowledge of the subject. However, the chapter refers to the older literature when background information is necessary for complementary and better treatment, or because of historical importance. Some of the recent publications report contradictory findings, and such contradictions have been emphasized in the chapter. Substantial progress has been made in the study of locust phase polyphenism over the past several years. The topic has well and truly emerged from the realms of applied entomology to assume a prominent position in the modern study of phenotypic plasticity, whereby adaptive phenotypes arise during development as a result of plastic interactions between genes and the environment. The study of behavioral gregarization has seen some of the most far-reaching progress. The involvement of locust-emitted volatiles in aspects of phase biology has generated substantial research and its fair share of productive controversy. It has been especially heartening to see that some of the major areas of controversy, such as the role of phenylacetonitrile, appear to have been at least partially resolved during the past year. New genetic resources also offer a solution to a more prosaic problem in locust research. There has been a growing realization that some of the differences reported between laboratories in aspects of phase polyphenism most likely reflect effects of rearing locusts in long-term culture in the laboratory.

Locust Phase Polyphenism: An Update

This chapter highlights the biological and life cycle features of entomogenous microsporidia and provides some basic information on their taxonomic distribution. The development of all insect-parasitic microsporidia is restricted to the cytoplasm of the host cell. The development of all insect-parasitic microsporidia is restricted to the cytoplasm of the host cell. Specialized relationships between microsporidia and the host at the cellular level have been termed xenomas. Weiser distinguished two main types of xenomas in insects, syncytial and neoplastic. The chapter presents the major and minor pathways of transmission for insect microsporidia. Alternatively, the criteria used to establish the genera of microsporidia from aquatic insects may not truly reflect phylogenetic diversity but adaptations to specific habitats and host systems. A section lists a few genera for which insects are not the type hosts. This is because many species have been reported to occur in insects (such as Thelohania, Pleistophora) or because there are possible links to insect microsporidia (such as Trichotuzetia). Finally, the chapter provides diagnostic information which is primarily restricted to the features of sporulation and the spore, with the addition of distinguishing life cycle characteristics when available. The type host and species are given followed by comments on distribution and other matters deemed of importance.

Microsporidia in Insects

An in vitro study in which isolated prothoracic glands of the Bombyx silkworm were cultured has provided definite evidence that the prothoracic gland is the site where molting hormone is synthesized. The hormone behaved very similarly to free ecdysone on thin-layer chromatography. Analysis by liquid chromatography and mass fragmentography revealed that the hormone is identical with α-ecdysone.

Biosynthesis of α-ecdysone by prothoracic gland in vitro

Invertebrate Tissue Culture Methods

The first book on entomophagy written in this manner, Edible Insects of the World is an enumeration of 2,141 species of edible insects. For the reader’s convenience, insect names are arranged much like a dictionary, first by taxonomic group and then by country. In addition to taxonomic and location information, entries contain applicable details about the history of entomophagy, collecting, cooking, and medicinal uses.

Edible Insects of the World

A highly nutritive culture medium (MGM-464) was developed for insect cell primary culture. The new medium consists of 6 inorganic salts, 4 organic acids, 21 amino acids, 3 sugars, 10 vitamins, and 8 other chemicals, including natural substances. The complete medium was generated by adding 20 ml fetal bovine serum to 100 ml MGM-464. The detail of the composition of the medium is given in a table, and the protocol to prepare the medium is described in the text. Among the 15 kinds of cultures made with MGM-464, embryonic cells from a walking stick and ovarian cells from the common white were subcultured more than 70 times, and embryonic cells of a chrysomelid beetle were subcultured more than 15 times. Other cultures could not be subcultured. However, embryonic cells from the commercial silkworm and a cockroach, ovarial cells from the commercial silkworm and a sphingid moth, nervous cells from the commercial silkworm and two sphingid moths, and cells from the dorsal vessel plus surrounding tissue of the commercial silkworm survived for several mo. The cells from the honeybee embryos, aphid embryos, and planthopper embryos were rather short-lived, and deteriorated after about 1 mo.

Development of highly nutritive culture media

Infection of leafhopper and its tissues cultivated in vitro with Chilo iridescent virus

Media consisting of a few chemicals maybe prepared by dissolving these chemicals in solution one after the other. Following is the preparation of MM medium (Mitsuhashi and Maramorosch, 1964) as an example of such media. (For the composition of the medium, see Appendix 1.)

Jun Mitsuhashi

Papers

Invertebrate Tissue Culture Methods

Edible Insects of the World

Development of highly nutritive culture media

Infection of leafhopper and its tissues cultivated in vitro with Chilo iridescent virus

Preparation of Media