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Independent studies using deep sequencing resolve the same set of core bacterial species dominating gut communities of honey bees.

ABSTRACT: Starting in 2003, numerous studies using culture-independent methodologies to characterize the gut microbiota of honey bees have retrieved a consistent and distinctive set of eight bacterial species, based on near identity of the 16S rRNA gene sequences. A recent study [Mattila HR, Rios D, Walker-Sperling VE, Roeselers G, Newton ILG (2012) Characterization of the active microbiotas associated with honey bees reveals healthier and broader communities when colonies are genetically diverse. PLoS ONE 7(3): e32962], using pyrosequencing of the V1-V2 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene, reported finding entirely novel bacterial species in honey bee guts, and used taxonomic assignments from these reads to predict metabolic activities based on known metabolisms of cultivable species. To better understand this discrepancy, we analyzed the Mattila et al. pyrotag dataset. In contrast to the conclusions of Mattila et al., we found that the large majority of pyrotag sequences belonged to clusters for which representative sequences were identical to sequences from previously identified core species of the bee microbiota. On average, they represent 95% of the bacteria in each worker bee in the Mattila et al. dataset, a slightly lower value than that found in other studies. Some colonies contain small proportions of other bacteria, mostly species of Enterobacteriaceae. Reanalysis of the Mattila et al. dataset also did not support a relationship between abundances of Bifidobacterium and of putative pathogens or a significant difference in gut communities between colonies from queens that were singly or multiply mated. Additionally, consistent with previous studies, the dataset supports the occurrence of considerable strain variation within core species, even within single colonies. The roles of these bacteria within bees, or the implications of the strain variation, are not yet clear.

SUBMITTER: Sabree ZL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3400611 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Independent studies using deep sequencing resolve the same set of core bacterial species dominating gut communities of honey bees.

Sabree Zakee L ZL Hansen Allison K AK Moran Nancy A NA

PloS one 20120719 7

Starting in 2003, numerous studies using culture-independent methodologies to characterize the gut microbiota of honey bees have retrieved a consistent and distinctive set of eight bacterial species, based on near identity of the 16S rRNA gene sequences. A recent study [Mattila HR, Rios D, Walker-Sperling VE, Roeselers G, Newton ILG (2012) Characterization of the active microbiotas associated with honey bees reveals healthier and broader communities when colonies are genetically diverse. PLoS ON ...[more]

PMID: 22829932

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Project description:Mason bees (Osmia spp.) are efficient fruit tree pollinators that can be encouraged to occupy and breed in artificial nesting material. In sweet cherry orchards, they are occasionally used as an alternative managed pollinator as a replacement for or in addition to honey bees (Apis mellifera). Yet, the lack of practical guidelines on management practices, for example optimal stocking rates, for both mason bee nesting material and honey bees might compromise pollination service provision. In this study, we assessed the relationship between stocking rates (honey bee hives and mason bee nesting material) and the abundance of honey bees and mason bees in 17 sweet cherry (Prunus avium) orchards in Central Germany. We furthermore performed a pollination experiment to explore the interactive effect of mason bees and honey bees on sweet cherry fruit set. In the orchards, both honey bee and mason bee abundance increased with increasing stocking rates of hives or nesting material, respectively. Honey bee abundance increased linearly with stocking rates. In contrast, mason bee abundance asymptoted at 2-3 nesting boxes per ha, beyond which more boxes resulted in little increase in visitation rate. Our pollination experiment demonstrated that orchards were pollen limited, with only 28% of insect-pollinated flowers setting fruit versus 39% of optimally hand-pollinated flowers. Honey bees and mason bees enhanced sweet cherry fruit set, but only when both were present and not when either was present alone in an orchard. Our findings demonstrate that offering nesting material for mason bees and employing honey bee hives can enhance bee abundance in sweet cherry orchards. By increasing honey bee abundance in combination with enhanced mason bee abundance, farmers can substantially boost fruit set and potentially sweet cherry yield. To enhance pollination services, farmers should consider the benefits of increasing pollinator biodiversity as an immediate benefit to improve crop yields.

Dataset Information

Independent studies using deep sequencing resolve the same set of core bacterial species dominating gut communities of honey bees.

Publications

Independent studies using deep sequencing resolve the same set of core bacterial species dominating gut communities of honey bees.

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