The impact of trypanosomatid parasites on honeybee health may represent a major threat to bee colonies worldwide. However, few axenic isolates have been generated to date and with no details on cell culture passages, a parameter that could influence parasite virulence. To address this question, a trypanosomatid isolation protocol was developed and a new strain was obtained, named L. passim C1. Using experimental infection of worker honeybees, we compared the virulence and mortality rates of the ATCC PRA-403 reference strain and C1 strain, the latter showing higher virulence from 10 days post-infection onward. This study highlights the impact of cell culture passages on the pathogenicity of L. passim in honeybees, providing new evidence of its negative effects on honeybee health.

锥虫寄生虫对蜜蜂健康的影响可能是对全世界蜂群的主要威胁。但是，到目前为止，还没有产生过任何的分离菌株，并且没有关于细胞培养传代的详细信息，该参数可能会影响寄生虫的毒力。为了解决这个问题，开发了一种锥虫分离方案，并获得了一种新菌株，命名为L. passim C1。使用工蜂的实验感染，我们比较了ATCC PRA-403参考菌株和C1菌株的毒力和死亡率，后者从感染后10天开始显示出更高的毒力。这项研究突出了细胞培养传代对蜜蜂中L. Passim致病性的影响，提供了其对蜜蜂健康的负面影响的新证据。