Characterization of nucleic acids associated with Arkansas bee virus

Arkansas bee virus (ABV) is a 30-nm isometric virus composed of one major species of polypeptide (mol. wt. 43 X 10(3] and one species of single-stranded RNA (mol. wt. 1.8 X 10(6]. The size of the genomic RNA and the lack of evidence for encapsidation or synthesis of a second smaller RNA species exclude further consideration of this virus for inclusion with the physicochemically similar viruses of the Nodaviridae. Several independent isolations of ABV were made from bees, and in each case it was associated in mixed infection with a picorna-like virus termed Berkeley bee picornavirus (BBPV). No evidence for replicative dependence, serological relationship, or genome relatedness by complementary DNA hybridization was obtained between ABV and BBPV.