Natural diversity of honey bee (Apis mellifera) gut bacteriome in various climatic and seasonal states

Abstract

As pollinators and producers of numerous human consumed products, honey bees have great ecological, economic and health importance. The composition of their bacteriota, for which the available knowledge is limited, is essential for their body's functioning. Based on our survey we performed a metagenomic analysis of samples collected by repeated sampling from representative geolocations regarding the study area's climatic types over two nutritionally extreme periods (March and May) of the collection season. In bacteriome composition, significant (p=0.002) difference was found between the samples from March and May. The samples' bacteriome from March showed a significant (p=0.02) composition difference between the cooler and the warmer regions. In samples of May, there were no significant bacteriome composition differences among the climatic classes. Based on our results, one may conclude that the composition of healthy core bacteriome in honey bees varies depending on the climatic and seasonal conditions. This is probably since climatic characteristics, and the vegetation states determine the availability and nutrient content of flowering plants. Our study results prove that to gain a thorough understanding of a microbiome's natural diversity, we need to obtain the necessary information from extreme ranges within the host's healthy state.

The effect of different feeding strategies on honey bee gut microbiota and the presence of Nosema

“…In another study examining the composition of the intestinal bacteriota of honey bees, a significant difference was found between the samples taken in March and May. A significant difference in composition was reported between the colder and warmer regions in the intestinal contents of the March samples (Papp et al, 2021). In another study, it was determined that the diversity of the general gut microbiota varied significantly according to the type of diet (Huang et al, 2018).…”

Community Dynamics in Structure and Function of Honey Bee Gut Bacteria in Response to Winter Dietary Shift

“…Bartonella is a commensal bacterium in honey bees with high prevalence yet low abundance. However, sporadic elevation of Bartonella in summer has also been reported occasionally ( 52 , 64 ). Possible reasons may include altered diet, temperature change, and behavioral variation of the workers.…”

“…On the other hand, increasing studies have pointed to its correlation to cold conditions. For example, Papp et al ( 52 ) revealed temporal shifts in Bartonella with increased abundance were only found at cooler sites. In particular, more studies have shown that Bartonella significantly increased during winter ( 36 , 51 , 61 ).…”

“…Previous studies reported dramatic gut community variations in temperate honey bee colonies over winter, where a non-core bacterium, Bartonella , became dominant over core bacteria ( 36 , 51 , 52 ). However, it is not well known whether this microbiota variation is dependent on host lineage or geography, and the underlying cause for the increase of a non-core bacterium was unclear.…”