Yeasts Harbored by Vespine Wasps in the Pacific Northwest

Abstract

The ecological role of social wasps has been extensively studied, but little is known about symbiotic relationships of these wasps with microbes. Recently, it was shown that vespid wasps in Europe carry yeasts, predominantly Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in their gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Interestingly, this niche allowed for sexual recombination of yeasts to occur and the formation of novel hybrid species. Our goals were 1) to survey the GI tract of eusocial wasps in the Pacific Northwest for the presence of yeasts and 2) to compare the diversity of such yeasts to that described for wasps in Europe. The GI tracts of 19 individual wasps from five species were plated, and 27 yeast-like colonies were identified to the species level. Yeasts in the genera Lachancea and Hanseniaspora each comprised ∼30% of the isolates; ∼25% were identified as Metschnikowia spp., with the remaining 10% belonging to Rhodotorula. Four bacterial isolates were identified as Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, and two isolates of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. Yeasts were present at all life stages of the wasps except for two unfed gynes of Dolichovespula maculata (L.) that contained only bacteria. The presence of a particular yeast species was not correlated with any wasp species. Furthermore, S. cerevisiae was not found in any wasp species. This highlights an interesting difference in the life cycle of both S. cerevisiae and wasps in Europe and the Pacific Northwest, and prompts further studies on the interactions of these microbes with their host wasps.

The impact of yeast presence in nectar on bumble bee behavior and fitness

“…Insects have been found to be associated with this species (Jimenez et al. ), but there is no evidence on the specific role or effect of this species on insect health and performance (Stefanini ). Nonetheless, our results showed that bumble bee colonies developed better when this yeast was administered to the diet of the bees.…”

Yeast‐insect associations: It takes guts

“…Furthermore, the associations between yeasts and wasps (Hymenoptera) have also been recently assessed. The yeasts isolated from Vespidae intestines belonged to the genera Candida ( C. apicola(Stefanini et al, ) – Starmerella clade; C. boidinii – Ogataea clade (Stefanini et al, ); C. deformans – Yarrowia clade (Stefanini et al, ); C. sake(Stefanini et al, ) – unaffiliated clade; C. albicans(Stefanini et al, ) and C. tropicalis – Lodderomyces‐Spathaspora clade(Stefanini et al, ; Suh, Nguyen, & Blackwell, )), Groenewaldozyma ( G. auringiensis and G. salmanticensis ) (Stefanini et al, ), Komagataella ( K. pastoris(Stefanini et al, ) ), Kregervanrija ( K. fluxuum(Stefanini et al, ) ), Metschnikowia ( M. pulcherrima(Batra et al, ; Jimenez et al, ; Stefanini et al, ) ), Meyerozyma ( M. caribbica(Stefanini et al, ) ), Millerozyma ( M. farinosa(Stefanini et al, ) ), Pichia ( P. fermentans and P. kluyveri )(Stefanini et al, ), Saccharomyces ( S. cerevisiae(Batra et al, ; Stefanini et al, ) ), Saccharomycodes ( S. ludwigi i(Batra et al, ; Stefanini et al, )) Zygosaccharomyces ( Z. mellis(Stefanini et al, ) and Z. rouxii(Batra et al, ; Stefanini et al, ) ), Hanseniaspora ( H. uvarum and H. osmophila ) (Jimenez et al, ), Lachancea ( L. fermentati (Stefanini et al, ), L. waltii(Jimenez et al, ) ) and Rhodotorula ( R. glutinis and R. mucilaginosa ) (Jimenez et al, ) Interestingly, only a small fraction of the species isolated in two studies on Vespidae collected in Italy(Stefanini et al, ) were also found in insects caught in Canada (Jimenez et al, ), suggesting either a geographic differentiation or a host specificity at the species level. Ants (Formicidae, Hymenoptera; Fig.…”

Saccharomyces cerevisiae – Insects Association: Impacts, Biogeography, and Extent

“…Similarly, bees only accidentally bear S. cerevisiae, with only 1 occurrence over 21 reported cases (Sandhu and Waraich, 1985;Lachance et al, 2003;Rosa et al, 2003;Daniel et al, 2013;Charron et al, 2014;Saksinchai et al, 2015). Conversely, S. cerevisiae has been found in a large portion of investigated flies, fruit flies, honey-bees, and wasps (29, 57, 20, and 71%, respectively) (Phaff and Knapp, 1956;Batra et al, 1973;Sandhu and Waraich, 1985;Morais et al, 1993Morais et al, , 1994Rosa et al, 1994;Lachance et al, 1995Lachance et al, , 2003Lachance et al, , 2006Suh et al, 2005;Nguyen et al, 2006Nguyen et al, , 2007Basukriadi et al, 2010;Goddard et al, 2010;Chandler et al, 2012;de Vega et al, 2012;Hamby et al, 2012;Stefanini et al, 2012;Freitas et al, 2013;Buser et al, 2014;Charron et al, 2014;Lam and Howell, 2015;Saksinchai et al, 2015;Batista et al, 2017;Deutscher et al, 2017;Jimenez et al, 2017;Piper et al, 2017;Quan and Eisen, 2018;Siavoshi et al, 2018;dos Santos et al, 2019;Meriggi et al, 2019;…”

“…Similarly, bees only accidentally bear S. cerevisiae , with only 1 occurrence over 21 reported cases ( Sandhu and Waraich, 1985 ; Lachance et al, 2003 ; Rosa et al, 2003 ; Daniel et al, 2013 ; Charron et al, 2014 ; Saksinchai et al, 2015 ). Conversely, S. cerevisiae has been found in a large portion of investigated flies, fruit flies, honey-bees, and wasps (29, 57, 20, and 71%, respectively) ( Phaff and Knapp, 1956 ; Batra et al, 1973 ; Sandhu and Waraich, 1985 ; Morais et al, 1993 , 1994 ; Rosa et al, 1994 ; Lachance et al, 1995 , 2003 , 2006 ; Suh et al, 2005 ; Nguyen et al, 2006 , 2007 ; Basukriadi et al, 2010 ; Goddard et al, 2010 ; Chandler et al, 2012 ; de Vega et al, 2012 ; Hamby et al, 2012 ; Stefanini et al, 2012 ; Freitas et al, 2013 ; Buser et al, 2014 ; Charron et al, 2014 ; Lam and Howell, 2015 ; Saksinchai et al, 2015 ; Batista et al, 2017 ; Deutscher et al, 2017 ; Jimenez et al, 2017 ; Piper et al, 2017 ; Quan and Eisen, 2018 ; Siavoshi et al, 2018 ; dos Santos et al, 2019 ; Meriggi et al, 2019 ; Park et al, 2019 ). A few possible scenarios could explain the higher occurrence of S. cerevisiae in these groups of insects: (i) they are more prone to visit human-related environments, such as wineries and vineyards, that are likely to host higher amounts of S. cerevisiae cells, (ii) they are more attracted by substrates inhabited by the budding yeast compared to other insects, (iii) diet and physical-chemical intestine conditions facilitate the housing of S. cerevisiae .…”