Gluconic Acid-producing Bacteria from Honey Bees and Ripening Honey

Ruiz-Argüeso, Tomás; Rodríguez‐Navarro, Alonso

doi:10.1099/00221287-76-1-211

Cited by 29 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…L. kunkeei , Alpha 2.2) can often be cultured from the crop. Very few bacteria can deal with extreme acid and osmotic stress of the crop, but consistent with our results, pure honey can stimulate the growth of L. acidophilis (Firm5) in vitro , and strains with striking metabolic resemblance to L. kunkeei and Alpha 2.2 have been “rejuvenated” from pure honey [68], [70], [71], [73], [77]–[79]. Thus the crop may serve as a “resuscitation and purification niche” favoring the revival of acid, oxygen, and osmotolerant bacteria harbored in honey or beebread.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Similar bacteria occur in the pollen provisions of both solitary and social bees, where they are thought to protect both food stores and developing larvae [22], [72], [89]. Highly osmotolerant, gluconic acid producing strains of Acetobacteraceae cultured directly from honey continue growth at 40–50% sugar concentrations and pH 3 [77], [89]. Alpha 2.2 has been found at low frequency in the midgut, but is not commonly found in the increasingly anoxic hindgut [85], where it may be replaced by Alpha 2.1 (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microbial Ecology of the Hive and Pollination Landscape: Bacterial Associates from Floral Nectar, the Alimentary Tract and Stored Food of Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)

et al. 2013

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Nearly all eukaryotes are host to beneficial or benign bacteria in their gut lumen, either vertically inherited, or acquired from the environment. While bacteria core to the honey bee gut are becoming evident, the influence of the hive and pollination environment on honey bee microbial health is largely unexplored. Here we compare bacteria from floral nectar in the immediate pollination environment, different segments of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) alimentary tract, and food stored in the hive (honey and packed pollen or “beebread”). We used cultivation and sequencing to explore bacterial communities in all sample types, coupled with culture-independent analysis of beebread. We compare our results from the alimentary tract with both culture-dependent and culture-independent analyses from previous studies. Culturing the foregut (crop), midgut and hindgut with standard media produced many identical or highly similar 16S rDNA sequences found with 16S rDNA clone libraries and next generation sequencing of 16S rDNA amplicons. Despite extensive culturing with identical media, our results do not support the core crop bacterial community hypothesized by recent studies. We cultured a wide variety of bacterial strains from 6 of 7 phylogenetic groups considered core to the honey bee hindgut. Our results reveal that many bacteria prevalent in beebread and the crop are also found in floral nectar, suggesting frequent horizontal transmission. From beebread we uncovered a variety of bacterial phylotypes, including many possible pathogens and food spoilage organisms, and potentially beneficial bacteria including Lactobacillus kunkeei, Acetobacteraceae and many different groups of Actinobacteria. Contributions of these bacteria to colony health may include general hygiene, fungal and pathogen inhibition and beebread preservation. Our results are important for understanding the contribution to pollinator health of both environmentally vectored and core microbiota, and the identification of factors that may affect bacterial detection and transmission, colony food storage and disease susceptibility.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial Ecology of the Hive and Pollination Landscape: Bacterial Associates from Floral Nectar, the Alimentary Tract and Stored Food of Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)

et al. 2013

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“…Therefore, we suggest that the three most common bacteria found in larvae, Acetobacteraceae, L. kunkeei , and Lactobacillus sp. B, can be “rejuvenated” from honey and/or beebread [50]–[56], suggesting that the food stores may be one source of larval inoculum. While Acetobacteraceae, Bifidobacterium , Lactobacillus sp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial Gut Diversity of Africanized and European Honey Bee Larval Instars

Vojvodic

Rehan²,

Anderson³

2013

PLoS ONE

150

171

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The first step in understanding gut microbial ecology is determining the presence and potential niche breadth of associated microbes. While the core gut bacteria of adult honey bees is becoming increasingly apparent, there is very little and inconsistent information concerning symbiotic bacterial communities in honey bee larvae. The larval gut is the target of highly pathogenic bacteria and fungi, highlighting the need to understand interactions between typical larval gut flora, nutrition and disease progression. Here we show that the larval gut is colonized by a handful of bacterial groups previously described from guts of adult honey bees or other pollinators. First and second larval instars contained almost exclusively Alpha 2.2, a core Acetobacteraceae, while later instars were dominated by one of two very different Lactobacillus spp., depending on the sampled site. Royal jelly inhibition assays revealed that of seven bacteria occurring in larvae, only one Neisseriaceae and one Lactobacillus sp. were inhibited. We found both core and environmentally vectored bacteria with putatively beneficial functions. Our results suggest that early inoculation by Acetobacteraceae may be important for microbial succession in larvae. This assay is a starting point for more sophisticated in vitro models of nutrition and disease resistance in honey bee larvae.

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“…Nevertheless, it has been found (Stinson et al, 1960) that the predominant acid in honey is gluconic acid. This acid, in equilibrium with the gluconolactone, originates largely from the activity of the glucose oxidase, which the bee adds at ripening , with some contribution from bacterial action during the ripening (Ruiz-Argü eso and Rodríguez-Navarro, 1973). The glucose oxidase-glucose reaction also produces hydrogen peroxide, which is the chief source of the antibacterial action of honey .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Enzymatic Determination of Total d-Gluconic Acid in Honey

Mato

Huidobro

Sánchez

et al. 1997

J. Agric. Food Chem.

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The total D-gluconic acid (free D-gluconic acid and D-glucono-δ-lactone) content of 20 Galician (northwestern Spain) honeys has been determined using an enzymatic method. To the author's knowledge, this is the first time this method has been applied to honey. The solution of honey was adjusted to pH 10.5 with 0.1 N KOH; 10 min at room temperature was allowed for hydrolysis of D-glucono-δ-lactone to D-gluconic acid. After this, it was necessary to adjust to test pH (7.8) with 0.1 N HCl. With these conditions, there were no observed interference effects. The enzymatic determination was measured spectrophotometrically at 340 nm, using gluconate kinase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase. The method combines precision (% CV was 0.30, at worst), good recovery (99.8%), simplicity, and low cost because this cost was reduced by 60% using a microtest. The total D-gluconic acid content of the honeys analyzed ranges between 3.91 and 11.71 g/kg (mean ) 7.37 g/kg), which is in keeping with value ranges obtained by other authors using HPLC methods.

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Gluconic Acid-producing Bacteria from Honey Bees and Ripening Honey

Cited by 29 publications

References 16 publications

Microbial Ecology of the Hive and Pollination Landscape: Bacterial Associates from Floral Nectar, the Alimentary Tract and Stored Food of Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)

Microbial Ecology of the Hive and Pollination Landscape: Bacterial Associates from Floral Nectar, the Alimentary Tract and Stored Food of Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)

Microbial Gut Diversity of Africanized and European Honey Bee Larval Instars

Enzymatic Determination of Total d-Gluconic Acid in Honey

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