Regarding the inheritance of immunity to virus, most organisms have immune systems to deal with pathogens. These immune systems are heritable, of course. Specific immunity and immune responses are usually not incorporated into the genome, though there is evidence that genomes contain sequences that are the same as viruses, and these may form “memories” of past viral infections, which can be used to combat new infections. Honey bees do not have an immune system like mammals, for example, but they do mount immune responses via RNA interference, which are intended to be passed on to maintain the response over time. 



> To achieve an effective antiviral immunity, it is also crucial to pass on this local siRNA antiviral immunity of infected cells to uninfected cells. This normally requires uptake of dsRNA by uninfected cells. Unlike vertebrates, insects lack an adaptive immune system but the uptake of virus-related dsRNA by uninfected cells would prime these cells for an effective immune response upon viral infection. Currently, two dsRNA uptake mechanisms are described in insects, transmembrane channel-mediated uptake and endocytosis-mediated uptake. Little is known about dsRNA uptake or the spreading of RNAi signals in bees, but it seems that honeybees are inefficient in spreading RNAi signals such as siRNAs across tissues. 



> Therefore, two questions concerning dsRNA uptake in bees need to be addressed in future studies: (i) What is the mechanism for dsRNA uptake? and (ii) What is the contribution of virus-related dsRNA uptake in controlling viral infection?



Niu, J., Meeus, I., Cappelle, K., Piot, N., & Smagghe, G. (2014). The immune response of the small interfering RNA pathway in the defense against bee viruses. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 6, 22-27.



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