Overwintering honeybees maintained dynamic and stable intestinal bacteria

Abstract

Honeybee is an important pollinator for maintaining ecological balance. However, scientist found the bizarre mass death of bees in winter. Meanwhile, some reported that the differences composed of intestinal bacteria between healthy honeybees and CCD honeybees. It is essential that explored dynamic changes to the intestinal bacteria in overwintering honeybees. We collected bee samples before overwintering, during prophase of overwintering, metaphase of overwintering, anaphase of overwintering, telophase of overwintering, and after overwintering. By using high-throughput sequencing targeting the V3−V4 regions of the 16S rDNA, the abundance of the intestinal bacteria were analyzed in overwintering honeybees. A total of 1,373,886 high-quality sequences were acquired and Proteobacteria (85.69%), Firmicutes (10.40%), Actinobacteria (3.66%), and Cyanobacteria (1.87%) were identified as major components of the intestinal bacteria. All core honeybee intestinal bacteria genera, such as Gilliamella, Bartonella, Snodgrassella, Lactobacillus, Frischella, Commensalibacter, and Bifidobacterium were detected. The abundance of Actinobacteria, Bartonella, and Bifidobacterium increased initially and then decreased in winter honeybees. There were no significant differences in the richness and evenness of the microbiota in overwintering honeybees; however, there was a statistically significant difference in the beta diversity of the intestinal bacteria after overwintering compared with that in other groups. Our results suggested that honeybees maintained their intestinal ecosystem balance, and increased the abundance of gut probiotics in response to environmental and nutrition pressures in winter.

Diversity and antibacterial potential of the Actinobacteria associated with Apis mellifera ligustica

“…Actinobacterial community structure was analyzed in both honeybee gut and honeycomb using the culture-independent method in this study. The phylum Actinobacteria was detected in the honeybee gut and honeycomb at 4.05 and 2.08% relative abundance respectively, which was a similarity to the results of the previous study (Liu et al, 2021). Fifteen and twenty-three actinobacterial families were detected by culture-independent method from the honeybee gut and honeycomb, respectively.…”

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

“…The characteristic rise of Bartonella is notably associated with the temperate winter, during which the experiments were conducted, rather than taxonomic lineage of the honeybees. Previous studies conducted in temperate regions, e.g., Switzerland ( 36 ), Canada ( 61 ), and Anhui, China ( 51 ), showed a similar trend in gut change, which is congruent with findings in the present work. Conversely, seasonal surveys of honey bee gut bacteria on colonies reared in the subtropical regions, such as in Arizona ( 62 ) and Colonia, Uruguay ( 63 ), revealed much more stabilized gut microbiota throughout the seasons, where Bartonella never became dominant.…”

“…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 ). Our study suggests, however, that the dominance of Bartonella is probably not directly associated with temperature per se but rather that the pollen-reduced diet structure caused by seasonal change.…”

“…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.…”

Uses and benefits of algae as a nutritional supplement for honey bees

“…Interestingly, Cyanobacteria spp. were observed to compromise 1.83% of the total gut microbiome of foraging bees collected during the beginning of the overwintering period (Liu et al, 2021). While not core constituents of the gut microbiome, cyanobacteria are present in "dirty" or turbid water sources that are attractive to foraging honey bees (Butler, 1940).…”