Pathogenicity of aerobic bacteria isolated from honeybees (Apis mellifera) in Ordu Province

Abstract

of the honeybee and test their insecticidal effects on adult honeybees. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Insect samples Samples of honeybees were collected from bee farms in the vicinity of Ordu,Turkey from May to September.The adult bees collected from the hives were placed in plastic boxes (20 × 20 cm) with punched lids for ventilation, and sugar cake was given in small pieces until the bees were transported to the laboratory for examination. Following this, healthy, diseased, and dead adult bees were separated for observation and used to isolate bacteria that could cause disease. 2.2. Isolation of bacteria Isolation and purification of bacteria was carried out individually from dead and live honeybees. The live and dead adults were individually surface sterilized by using 70% ethanol for 3 min [8] and washed 3 times with sterile water. The dead honeybee carcasses were homogenized in feeder medium using a glass tissue mill, and 2 layers Abstract: The honeybee (Apis mellifera) is an important pollinator insect. Any pathogenic infection in this beneficial insect is undesirable. In this study, bacterial diversity in beehives was investigated to determine the potential of pathogenic bacteria in honeybees. To do this, bacterial isolations were carried out from dead and diseased adult bees collected from 9 districts in Ordu Province in Turkey.Twenty species of pathogenic bacteria, 18 of which were nonsporeforming Staphylococcus lentus, Klebsiella oxytoca, Citrobacter freundii, Leucanostoc mesenteroides ssp. cremoris, Kocuria rosea, Kocuria kristinae, Sphingomonas paucimobilis slashline, Burkholderia cepacia, Leucanostoc mesenteroides ssp. dextranicum,Hafnia alvei, Escherichia coli, Aeromonas salmonicida, Citrobacter braakii, Pantoea agglomerans, Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus, Staphylococcus pseudintermedius, Staphylococcus lugdunesis and Staphylococcus vitulinus and 2 sporeforming Bacillus licheniformis and Paenibacillus polymyxa, were isolated and identified from the honeybees. The infectivity of these bacteria were also documented with bioassay experiments on the healthy bees.The highest insecticidal effectwas determinedwith Bacillus licheniformis (84%), Escherichia coli (84%), and Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus (80%) on the adult honeybees.This result confirms that the honeybee contains a very large number of bacterial species and that the majority of them are pathogenic for the species in Turkey. In addition, some of the entomopathogenic bacteria used for biological control can have negative impact on this economically important insect.

Update of the list of QPS‐recommended biological agents intentionally added to food or feed as notified to EFSA 13: suitability of taxonomic units notified to EFSA until September 2020

“…Six papers did not deal with safety concerns. The paper of Bog et al (2020) described the results of an in vitro pathogenicity test of a B. licheniformis strain. The paper had methodological problems in relation to strain identification and used an unvalidated in vitro pathogenicity test with very high bacterial cell density.…”

Identification of Mesophylic Bacterial Flora in Deceased Worker Adults of Apis mellifera caucasia (Pollmann, 1889)

“…Khan et al also reported that Bacillus is one of the most frequently isolated bacteria genus from the honey bee gut for Australian chalkbrood-inhibiting (Khan et al, 2020). Thus, It is not the first Bacillus report in the honey bee studies; previously, it was reported from different parts of the World (Wang et al, 2015;Audisio, 2017;Kačániová et al, 2020;Anjum et al, 2018;Boğ et al, 2020).…”

“…We obtained bacterial isolates from dead A. mellifera caucasia L. adults by homogenisation. They were individually surface sterilised by using 70% ethanol for 3 min and washed three times with sterile water, according to Boğ et al (2020). The deceased honey bee bodies were homogenised in a feeder medium using a glass tissue mill, immersed in to the nutrient agar, and incubated at 30 °C for a week.…”

Isolation, Assessments of Risk Factors, and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Test of Klebsiella from Gut of Bee in and around Haramaya University Bee Farm, East Hararghe, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

“…Samples were collected from bee colonies using sterile scissors and protective clothes and then labelled by types of hives from respective sites. The collected samples were placed in plastic boxes or sterile tubes with punched lids and placed within small pieces containing sugar cake [ 31 ]. Then, samples were transported to the Microbiology Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Haramaya University, using an ice box.…”

“…The individual surface of live adult honey bees was sterilized by using 70% ethanol for 3 minutes and washing it 3 times with sterile water. The gut of honey bees was aseptically dissected by using a clipping stinger with sterile forceps and macerated with sterile scissors in 0.8% NaCl solution and kept at −4°C [ 31 ]. The samples were homogenized in 3 ml of peptone water and streaked on MacConkey agar, and incubated at 37°C for 24 hours.…”