South Korea experienced a significant decline in honey bee populations starting in 2021, which continued for two years until the winter of 2022. To investigate the potential causes of this decline, we conducted a virome analysis, considering viruses as possible culprits. Samples were collected during two periods: April-May 2022 and May-June 2023. From libraries contsructed from their total RNA, we secured a total of 25 raw FASTQ files by high-throughput sequencing. In the honey bees collected in 2022, we identified eight previously unreported honey bee viruses including Lake Sinai viruses, one novel honey bee-related virus, and one novel plant-related virus. In the subsequent sampling in 2023, we found that most of the viruses identified in 2022 were still present. Additionally, the novel honey bee virus reported in 2022 was also found in the 2023 collections, along with three more honey bee-related novel viruses. Notably, numerous plant viruses were detected in honey bees collected during the flowering season. This analysis suggests that the viruses observed in South Korean honey bees are likely distributed nationwide. These findings provide fundamental data for future research on honey bee viruses in South Korea.

• Minhyeok Kwon(Department of Plant Medicals, College of Life Sciences, Andong National University, Agriculture Science and Technology Research Institute, Andong National University) Corresponding author
• Chuleui Jung(Department of Plant Medicals, College of Life Sciences, Andong National University, Agriculture Science and Technology Research Institute, Andong National University)
• Eui-Joon Kil(Department of Plant Medicals, College of Life Sciences, Andong National University, Agriculture Science and Technology Research Institute, Andong National University)