Dynamic microbiome evolution in social bees

Kwong, Waldan K.; Medina-Medina, Luis A.; Koch, Hauke; Sing, Kong-Wah; Soh, Eunice J. Y.; Ascher, John S.; Jaffé, Rodolfo; Moran, Nancy A.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.1600513

Cited by 407 publications

(684 citation statements)

References 122 publications

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“…Genomic analyses and recent functional experimental studies suggest that this core microbial community is involved in a range of key functions including nutrition and health (Engel et al 2012;Kwong et al 2014;Engel et al 2014;Lee et al 2015;Ellegaard et al 2015;Engel et al 2015;Raymann et al 2017;Zheng et al 2017;Kešnerová et al 2017). Specifically, the gut community of worker honey bees is dominated by nine bacterial species clusters that make up 95-98% of the community (Jeyaprakash et al 2003;Babendreier et al 2006;Martinson et al 2011;Moran et al 2012;Sabree et al 2012;CorbyHarris et al 2014;Kwong et al 2017). Notably similar bacterial communities have been found for workers from different populations and regions (Jeyaprakash et al 2003;Mohr and Tebbe 2006;Cox-Foster et al 2007;Martinson et al 2011;Moran et al 2012;Sabree et al 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 83%

Effect of water and resource availability on ant feeding preferences: a field experiment on the Mediterranean ant Crematogaster scutellaris

et al. 2016

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The gut microbiome is recognised as playing an integral role in the health and ecology of a wide variety of animal taxa. However, the relationship between social behavioural traits and the microbial community has received little attention. Honey bees are highly social and the workers perform different behavioural tasks in the colony that cause them to be exposed to different local environments. Here we examined whether the gut microbial community composition of worker honey bees is associated with the behavioural tasks they perform, and therefore also the local environment they are exposed to. We set up five observation hives, in which all workers were matched in age and observed the behaviour of marked bees in each colony over 4 days. The gut bacterial communities of bees seen performing predominantly foraging or predominantly in nest tasks were then characterised and compared based on amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Our results show that some core members of the unique honey bee gut bacterial community are represented in different relative abundances in bees performing different behavioural tasks. The differentially represented bacterial taxa include some thought to be important in carbohydrate metabolism and transport, and also linked to bee health. The results suggest an influence of task-related local environment exposure and diet on the honey bee gut microbial community and identify focal core taxa for further functional analyses.

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confidence: 83%

Effect of water and resource availability on ant feeding preferences: a field experiment on the Mediterranean ant Crematogaster scutellaris

et al. 2016

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“…Other social corbiculate bees, including other honey bees (genus Apis ), bumble bees ( Bombus) , and stingless bees (tribe Meliponini), contain distinct strains of the five core species found in A. mellifera [11 •• ,12]. Phylogenetic analyses of strains from diverse corbiculate bee species suggest that these five bacterial species colonized a common ancestor of the corbiculate clade, about 80 million years ago, and that strains subsequently diversified, with some host lineages acquiring a few additional bacterial types.…”

Section: The Gut Microbiome Of Corbiculate Beesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If bees are manually removed from the comb at an early pupal stage (before the mouthparts harden) using sterile methods, guts of emerging adults will contain few or no bacteria and lack all core species, enabling experiments in which the gut community is inoculated in a controlled manner (e.g. [10,11 •• ,14 •• ,15 •• ,16 • ]). Experiments comparing microbiotia-free and inoculated bees have revealed some of the functions of the gut microbiome and its members (Table 1).…”

Section: The Gut Microbiome Of Corbiculate Beesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of the gut microbiome in health and disease of adult honey bee workers

Raymann

Moran

2018

Current Opinion in Insect Science

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The role of the gut microbiome in animal health has become increasingly evident. Unlike most other insects, honey bees possess a highly conserved and specialized core gut microbiome, which consists of nine bacterial species and is acquired mostly through social transmission. Five of these species are ubiquitous in honey bees and are also present in bumble bees. Recent studies have shown that the bee gut microbiome plays a role in metabolism, immune function, growth and development, and protection against pathogens. Disruption of the gut microbiome has also been shown to have detrimental effects on bee health. Overall, evidence suggests that the gut microbiome plays an important role in bee health and disease.

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“…2012; Kwong et al. 2017); in contrast, bacteria of this lineage are rarely found in Apis mellifera .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genome Sequences of Apibacter spp., Gut Symbionts of Asian Honey Bees

Kwong

Steele

Moran

2018

Genome Biology and Evolution

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Honey bees have distinct gut microbiomes consisting almost entirely of several host-specific bacterial species. We present the genomes of three strains of Apibacter spp., bacteria of the Bacteroidetes phylum that are endemic to Asian honey bee species (Apis dorsata and Apis cerana). The Apibacter strains have similar metabolic abilities to each other and to Apibacter mensalis, a species isolated from a bumble bee. They use microaerobic respiration and fermentation to catabolize a limited set of monosaccharides and dicarboxylic acids. All strains are capable of gliding motility and encode a type IX secretion system. Two strains and A. mensalis have type VI secretion systems, and all strains encode Rhs or VgrG proteins used in intercellular interactions. The characteristics of Apibacter spp. are consistent with adaptions to life in a gut environment; however, the factors responsible for host-specificity and mutualistic interactions remain to be uncovered.

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Dynamic microbiome evolution in social bees

Abstract: Honey bees, bumble bees, and stingless bees have related gut microbial communities that are shaped by host evolutionary history.

Cited by 407 publications

References 122 publications

Effect of water and resource availability on ant feeding preferences: a field experiment on the Mediterranean ant Crematogaster scutellaris

Effect of water and resource availability on ant feeding preferences: a field experiment on the Mediterranean ant Crematogaster scutellaris

The role of the gut microbiome in health and disease of adult honey bee workers

Genome Sequences of Apibacter spp., Gut Symbionts of Asian Honey Bees

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