Two gut community enterotypes recur in diverse bumblebee species

Li, Jilian; Powell, J. Elijah; Guo, Jun; Evans, Jay D.; Wu, Jie; Williams, Paul H.; Lin, Qinhui; Moran, Nancy A.; Zhang, Zhigang

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.06.031

Cited by 69 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Unlike honey bees and stingless bees, which grow by colony fission ( 46 , 47 ), bumble bee colonies are founded by single queens ( 48 ), imposing potential bottlenecks on microbiota diversity. For yet unknown reasons, the Bombus gut microbiota also appears more prone to perturbation and displacement by environmental bacteria ( 19 , 20 , 49 ), and despite their larger body size, bumble bees often form colonies that are orders of magnitude smaller than those of Apis or the Meliponini (10 1 to 10 2 versus 10 3 to 10 4 individuals). Hence, the effective “habitat size” for Bombus -associated microbes may be considerably smaller than that for Apis or the Meliponini, leading to lower overall gut community diversity (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic microbiome evolution in social bees

et al. 2017

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic microbiome evolution in social bees

et al. 2017

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“…Serratia is an opportunistic pathogen in humans and many animals, including insects [37,38]. Along with other Enterobacteriaceae, it is widely present at low frequencies in honeybee guts where it is considered a signifier of atypical microbiome composition in bees [15,39]. Therefore, one or both of these bacteria could be responsible for the increased morality in treated bees.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antibiotic exposure perturbs the gut microbiota and elevates mortality in honeybees

2017

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Gut microbiomes play crucial roles in animal health, and shifts in the gut microbial community structure can have detrimental impacts on hosts. Studies with vertebrate models and human subjects suggest that antibiotic treatments greatly perturb the native gut community, thereby facilitating proliferation of pathogens. In fact, persistent infections following antibiotic treatment are a major medical issue. In apiculture, antibiotics are frequently used to prevent bacterial infections of larval bees, but the impact of antibiotic-induced dysbiosis (microbial imbalance) on bee health and susceptibility to disease has not been fully elucidated. Here, we evaluated the effects of antibiotic exposure on the size and composition of honeybee gut communities. We monitored the survivorship of bees following antibiotic treatment in order to determine if dysbiosis of the gut microbiome impacts honeybee health, and we performed experiments to determine whether antibiotic exposure increases susceptibility to infection by opportunistic pathogens. Our results show that antibiotic treatment can have persistent effects on both the size and composition of the honeybee gut microbiome. Antibiotic exposure resulted in decreased survivorship, both in the hive and in laboratory experiments in which bees were exposed to opportunistic bacterial pathogens. Together, these results suggest that dysbiosis resulting from antibiotic exposure affects bee health, in part due to increased susceptibility to ubiquitous opportunistic pathogens. Not only do our results highlight the importance of the gut microbiome in honeybee health, but they also provide insights into how antibiotic treatment affects microbial communities and host health.

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“…These perturbed communities were found in all three host species but varied in frequency among them 46 and were positively correlated with the presence of eukaryotic intestinal parasites 46,68 . Similarly, in a 16S rRNA survey of 28 bumble bee species in China, gut communities fell into two distinct compositional types, distributed at different frequencies across species 43 . One type was the normal corbiculate bee-specific community represented by S. alvi , G. apicola , Lactobacillus Firm-4 and Lactobacillus Firm-5.…”

Section: Characterizing the Bee Gut Microbiotamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this community can also be disrupted, through invasion by environmentally derived bacteria or opportunistic pathogens 10,43 . The gut community also differs between castes and may change with the age of the individual and the colony, likely reflecting the effects of host physiology, diet, and the environment in shaping microbiome composition 14,62,63,68,69,97 .…”

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confidence: 99%

Gut microbial communities of social bees

2016

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Preface The gut microbiota can have profound effects on hosts, but studying these relationships in humans presents challenges. The specialized gut community of honey bees parallels the mammalian microbiota, as both are mostly composed of host-adapted, facultative anaerobes and microaerophiles. The bee gut community, however, is far simpler, being dominated by only nine bacterial species clusters that are only associated with bees and that are transmitted through social interactions between individuals. Recent developments, including the discovery of extensive strain-level variation, evidence of protective and nutritional functions, and reports of eco-physiological or disease-associated community perturbations, have drawn attention to the microbiota’s role in bee health, as well as its potential as a model for studying gut symbiont ecology and evolution.

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Two gut community enterotypes recur in diverse bumblebee species

Cited by 69 publications

References 10 publications

Dynamic microbiome evolution in social bees

Dynamic microbiome evolution in social bees

Antibiotic exposure perturbs the gut microbiota and elevates mortality in honeybees

Gut microbial communities of social bees

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