Molecular Characterization of Gut Bacterial Flora of Honeybee (Apis Mellifera Adansonii) From Some Selected Apiaries in Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Research related to physiology and pathology of honey bees in particular Apis mellifera adansonii has attracted a lot of attention. The present study is aimed to determine honeybee (Apis mellifera adansonii) gut microbiome from Apiary in Olabisi Onabanjo University and Osoba Avenue Odo-Epo, Odogbolu Local Government. Twenty (20) honeybees workers (A. mellifera) were collected into a small vile containing sugar powder from the apiary located in OOU and Osoba Avenue at Odo-Epo during rainy season in July and transported to Zoology and Environmental Biology laboratory in OOU and kept in ice-cubes (-50C) till daybreak. Standard microbiological analysis for isolation of bacteria was used, adopting Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute procedures. The phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rDNA gene were further used to characterize the organism in order to establish relationships among them. The results showed microbiota of the studied samples includes; Cedeca davisae, Cronobacter dublinensis, Enterobacter aerogenes, Kluyvera cryocrescens, Klebsiella oxytoca, Providencia vermicola, Salmonella enteric, Providencia alcalifaciens, Serratia nematodiphila, Pseudomonas plecoqlossicida, Klebsiella michiganensis, Serratia marcenscens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Aeromonas hydrophila and Enterobacter asburiae. Klebsiella spp. was more abundant and prominent in the digestive guts of honeybee workers both in OOU and Osoba Avenue, Odo Epo. The result of the percentage identity and closest accession of the isolates revealed that, Enterobacter aerogenes had the closest accession number and with highest percentage identity of (99%). The findings from this study showed that microbiota component communities of A. mellifera adansonii in OOU were composed of more Gram-negative bacteria than Gram-positive bacteria in Odo Epo.

Microbial Diversity in Bee Species and Bee Products: Pseudomonads Contribution to Bee Well-Being and the Biological Activity Exerted by Honey Bee Products: A Narrative Review

“…Foraging bees use their forelegs to gather pollen grains, which are agglutinated with saliva, nectar, and/or honey to form granules roughly 1.4-4 mm in size [71]. Then, bees pack these sticky granules into the pollen baskets of their hind legs (corbiculae) to bring these pollen loads back to their nests [26,72]. A bee colony might gather 15-40 kg of pollen per year, or 50-250 g per day [71].…”

“…Under these conditions, fermentation takes place, converting pollen to bee bread. Bee bread is also designated as ambrosia, perga, fermented pollen, and preserved pollen [72,74,75]. It is the main food source for nurse bees, who convert it in their hypopharyngeal glands to royal jelly [26,76].…”