AGO2 and viral infectious disease: Honey bees fed thyme oil exhibited greater expression of genes involved in antiviral defense including the RNAi pathway (i.e., ago2 and dcr-like) and antimicrobial peptide genes regulated by Toll and Imd pathways (i.e., abaecin and hymenoptaecin), as well as a gene involved in immune competence and a marker of the overall bee health, vitellogenin. Together these results indicate that thyme oil stimulates honey bee immune responses and mitigates virus infections.