Nosema or Vairimorpha: Genomic/proteomic support to a complex socio-economic issue rooted in taxonomic change

Jamie Bojko; James Becnel; Edouard Bessette; Sam Edwards; Jing Gao; Wei-Fone Huang; Natasa Katanic; Amjad Khalaf; Tian Li; Jonathan W. Snow; Leellen F. Solter; Cheyenne Stratton; Yuri Tokarev; Bryony Williams; Yanping Chen

doi:10.1016/j.jip.2025.108376

Nosema or Vairimorpha: Genomic/proteomic support to a complex socio-economic issue rooted in taxonomic change

Jamie Bojko, James Becnel, Edouard Bessette, Sam Edwards, Jing Gao, Wei-Fone Huang, Natasa Katanic, Amjad Khalaf, Tian Li, Jonathan W. Snow, Leellen F. Solter, Cheyenne Stratton, Yuri Tokarev, Bryony Williams, Yanping Chen

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Abstract

Microsporidia are disease-causing organisms that can infect invertebrate species. In apiculture, two microsporidians of importance are Vairimorpha (=Nosema) ceranae and Vairimorpha (=Nosema) apis. The taxonomy surrounding the genus assignment of these species has been heavily debated, due to molecular systematic and socio-economic reasons. We provide an update to this debate by developing a 508-gene concatenated protein phylogeny, and a 277-gene concatenated nucleotide phylogeny, to show that these parasites show strong phylogenetic positioning with the Vairimorpha genus and its type species Vairimorpha necatrix. Despite this assignment, we suggest that the terms ‘nosema-disease’, ‘nosemosis’ and ‘nosematosis’ should still be viable for use within apiculture, and be named after the family Nosematidae in which V. ceranae and V. apis sit, instead of the previous genus assignment: Nosema.

Original language	English
Article number	108376
Number of pages	8
Journal	Journal of Invertebrate Pathology
Volume	212
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2025.108376
Publication status	Published - 26 Jun 2025

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Bojko, J., Becnel, J., Bessette, E., Edwards, S., Gao, J., Huang, W.-F., Katanic, N., Khalaf, A., Li, T., Snow, J. W., Solter, L. F., Stratton, C., Tokarev, Y., Williams, B., & Chen, Y. (2025). Nosema or Vairimorpha: Genomic/proteomic support to a complex socio-economic issue rooted in taxonomic change. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 212, Article 108376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2025.108376

@article{e59b991b94784d15bef57ddb87fa4973,

title = "Nosema or Vairimorpha: Genomic/proteomic support to a complex socio-economic issue rooted in taxonomic change",

abstract = "Microsporidia are disease-causing organisms that can infect invertebrate species. In apiculture, two microsporidians of importance are Vairimorpha (=Nosema) ceranae and Vairimorpha (=Nosema) apis. The taxonomy surrounding the genus assignment of these species has been heavily debated, due to molecular systematic and socio-economic reasons. We provide an update to this debate by developing a 508-gene concatenated protein phylogeny, and a 277-gene concatenated nucleotide phylogeny, to show that these parasites show strong phylogenetic positioning with the Vairimorpha genus and its type species Vairimorpha necatrix. Despite this assignment, we suggest that the terms {\textquoteleft}nosema-disease{\textquoteright}, {\textquoteleft}nosemosis{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}nosematosis{\textquoteright} should still be viable for use within apiculture, and be named after the family Nosematidae in which V. ceranae and V. apis sit, instead of the previous genus assignment: Nosema.",

author = "Jamie Bojko and James Becnel and Edouard Bessette and Sam Edwards and Jing Gao and Wei-Fone Huang and Natasa Katanic and Amjad Khalaf and Tian Li and Snow, \{Jonathan W.\} and Solter, \{Leellen F.\} and Cheyenne Stratton and Yuri Tokarev and Bryony Williams and Yanping Chen",

year = "2025",

month = jun,

day = "26",

doi = "10.1016/j.jip.2025.108376",

language = "English",

volume = "212",

journal = "Journal of Invertebrate Pathology",

issn = "0022-2011",

publisher = "Academic Press Inc.",

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Bojko, J, Becnel, J, Bessette, E, Edwards, S, Gao, J, Huang, W-F, Katanic, N, Khalaf, A, Li, T, Snow, JW, Solter, LF, Stratton, C, Tokarev, Y, Williams, B & Chen, Y 2025, 'Nosema or Vairimorpha: Genomic/proteomic support to a complex socio-economic issue rooted in taxonomic change', Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, vol. 212, 108376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2025.108376

TY - JOUR

T1 - Nosema or Vairimorpha

T2 - Genomic/proteomic support to a complex socio-economic issue rooted in taxonomic change

AU - Bojko, Jamie

AU - Becnel, James

AU - Bessette, Edouard

AU - Edwards, Sam

AU - Gao, Jing

AU - Huang, Wei-Fone

AU - Katanic, Natasa

AU - Khalaf, Amjad

AU - Li, Tian

AU - Snow, Jonathan W.

AU - Solter, Leellen F.

AU - Stratton, Cheyenne

AU - Tokarev, Yuri

AU - Williams, Bryony

AU - Chen, Yanping

PY - 2025/6/26

Y1 - 2025/6/26

N2 - Microsporidia are disease-causing organisms that can infect invertebrate species. In apiculture, two microsporidians of importance are Vairimorpha (=Nosema) ceranae and Vairimorpha (=Nosema) apis. The taxonomy surrounding the genus assignment of these species has been heavily debated, due to molecular systematic and socio-economic reasons. We provide an update to this debate by developing a 508-gene concatenated protein phylogeny, and a 277-gene concatenated nucleotide phylogeny, to show that these parasites show strong phylogenetic positioning with the Vairimorpha genus and its type species Vairimorpha necatrix. Despite this assignment, we suggest that the terms ‘nosema-disease’, ‘nosemosis’ and ‘nosematosis’ should still be viable for use within apiculture, and be named after the family Nosematidae in which V. ceranae and V. apis sit, instead of the previous genus assignment: Nosema.

AB - Microsporidia are disease-causing organisms that can infect invertebrate species. In apiculture, two microsporidians of importance are Vairimorpha (=Nosema) ceranae and Vairimorpha (=Nosema) apis. The taxonomy surrounding the genus assignment of these species has been heavily debated, due to molecular systematic and socio-economic reasons. We provide an update to this debate by developing a 508-gene concatenated protein phylogeny, and a 277-gene concatenated nucleotide phylogeny, to show that these parasites show strong phylogenetic positioning with the Vairimorpha genus and its type species Vairimorpha necatrix. Despite this assignment, we suggest that the terms ‘nosema-disease’, ‘nosemosis’ and ‘nosematosis’ should still be viable for use within apiculture, and be named after the family Nosematidae in which V. ceranae and V. apis sit, instead of the previous genus assignment: Nosema.

U2 - 10.1016/j.jip.2025.108376

DO - 10.1016/j.jip.2025.108376

M3 - Article

SN - 0022-2011

VL - 212

JO - Journal of Invertebrate Pathology

JF - Journal of Invertebrate Pathology

M1 - 108376

ER -

Nosema or Vairimorpha: Genomic/proteomic support to a complex socio-economic issue rooted in taxonomic change

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