Temporal analysis of the honey bee microbiome reveals four novel viruses and seasonal prevalence of known viruses, nosema, and crithidia.

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This may seem  irrelevant to the theme of this blog, but it has some startling figures and illustrates the use of metagenomics and the microbiome in detective work. Honey bee colonies have recently been wiped out by an unknown disease (Colony colapse disorder). This study of healthy bees, using bulk sequencing, PCR  and an Arthropod Pathogen Microarray, discovered four previously unknown viruses . Some viruses are expressed in extraordinary numbers (up to 7×10¹¹  individual viruses per bee for one of several hundred viral species). If one extrapolates to man, there are likely to be trillions of viral genomes (and proteins)  in the human body and in blood samples.