Sacbrood virus(SBV) causes a fatal disease(sacbrood) of honeybee larvae, which fail to pupate, change color and shape, and finally die. The complete nucleotide sequence of SBV has recently been determined, and with these data, we now report a Reverse Transcription-PCR(RT-PCR) test for the direct, rapid, and sensitive detection of these viruses. To detect the SBV infection in Korea, we collect beekeepers from various apiaries, which the RT-PCR technique was used. And we designed SBV specific primers in conserved region of the viral genome in the GenBank database. We confirmed the SBV amplicon using cloning and sequence. Homology between determined sequences of SBV korean strain and published virus sequences were 97% in DNA sequence, and 100% in amino acid sequence. We describe the first time that presence of sacbrood virus(SBV) in Korea honey bee colonies using RT-PCR. We also developed and validated a RT-PCR assay for the detection of SBV in Korea.

• Yong Soo Choi(National Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, R.D.A.)
• Myeong Lyeol Lee(National Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, R.D.A.)
• Man Young Lee(National Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, R.D.A.)
• Hye Kyung Kim(National Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, R.D.A.)
• Kwang Gill Lee(National Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, R.D.A.)