A simple and distinctive microbiota associated with honey bees and bumble bees

Abstract

Specialized relationships with bacteria often allow animals to exploit a new diet by providing a novel set of metabolic capabilities. Bees are a monophyletic group of Hymenoptera that transitioned to a completely herbivorous diet from the carnivorous diet of their wasp ancestors. Recent culture-independent studies suggest that a set of distinctive bacterial species inhabits the gut of the honey bee, Apis mellifera. Here we survey the gut microbiotae of diverse bee and wasp species to test whether acquisition of these bacteria was associated with the transition to herbivory in bees generally. We found that most bee species lack phylotypes that are the same or similar to those typical of A. mellifera, rejecting the hypothesis that this dietary transition was symbiont-dependent. The most common bacteria in solitary bee species are a widespread phylotype of Burkholderia and the pervasive insect associate, Wolbachia. In contrast, several social representatives of corbiculate bees do possess distinctive bacterial phylotypes. Samples of A. mellifera harboured the same microbiota as in previous surveys, and closely related bacterial phylotypes were identified in two Asian honey bees (Apis andreniformis and Apis dorsata) and several bumble bee (Bombus) species. Potentially, the sociality of Apis and Bombus species facilitates symbiont transmission and thus is key to the maintenance of a more consistent gut microbiota. Phylogenetic analyses provide a more refined taxonomic placement of the A. mellifera symbionts.

Functional diversity within the simple gut microbiota of the honey bee

“…1 A and B). Reads corresponding to 16S rRNA genes verified that the eight typical species previously detected in honey bees (9,(11)(12)(13) were all present and dominated the gut community. Phylogenies inferred from eight conserved, single copy marker genes (Fig.…”

“…Independent studies of bacterial community profiles based on 16S rRNA sequences show that workers of A. mellifera and some Bombus species consistently harbor a distinctive gut microbiota not shared with solitary bees (9)(10)(11). This microbiota consists of eight distinct species or phylotypes (i.e., closely related strains with ≥97% sequence identity in 16S rRNA sequences, hereafter referred to as species): three Gram-positive species (two closely related Firmicutes within Lactobacillus and one within Bifidobacterium) and five Gram-negative species (one β-proteobacterium with the Candidatus name "Snodgrassella alvi," two closely related γ-proteobacteria, one with the Candidatus name "Gilliamella apicola," and two α-proteobacteria) (12).…”

The inconstant gut microbiota of Drosophila species revealed by 16S rRNA gene analysis

“…In some studies, specific bacterial taxa has been detected in all samples, each of which comprised multiple hosts, but the prevalence of the bacteria in each individual was not tested (Mohr and Tebbe, 2006;Martinson et al, 2011;Roeselers et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2011). Other investigations have tested individual hosts, often with study-specific criteria for a core, for example, relaxation of the detected prevalence of the bacteria to 80 or 50% of hosts, or use of variable or low (o97%) OTU-call cutoffs (Qin et al, 2010;Boissiere et al, 2012;Moran et al, 2012;Nelson et al, 2012;Salonen et al, 2012).…”

“…A subset of the gut microbiota has been reported to be shared among host individuals within various animal species, including Anopheles mosquitoes, the honey bee Apis mellifera, zebrafish Danio rerio and the laboratory mouse (Mohr and Tebbe, 2006;Martinson et al, 2011;Roeselers et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2011;Pedron et al, 2012;Tang et al, 2012). This subset has been described as the core microbiota (Hamady and Knight, 2009;Shade and Handelsman, 2012).…”

Effect of oral administration of lactic acid bacteria on colony performance and gut microbiota in indoor-reared bumblebees (Bombus terrestris)

“…Social insects like honeybees (Apis ) and bumblebees (Bombus ) harbor a distinct gut microbiota (Martinson et al 2011). This gut microbiota probably contributes to the success of the colony, as dysbiosis of the microbiota has been associated with a reduced health in bees (Sabree et al 2012;Vasquez et al 2012).…”