Microbial communities associated with honey bees in Brazil and in the United States

Study information

Needs review

study design

cross-sectional observational, not case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

34264502

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-021-00539-7

URI

Authors

de Oliveira Scoaris D, Hughes FM, Silveira MA, Evans JD, Pettis JS, Bastos EMAF, Rosa CA

Journal

Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology]

Year

2021

Keywords:

Apis mellifera, Bacteria, Diversity, Environment, Microorganisms, Yeasts

Honey bee colony losses worldwide call for a more in-depth understanding of the pathogenic and mutualistic components of the honey bee microbiota and their relation with the environment. In this descriptive study, we characterized the yeast and bacterial communities that arise from six substrates associated with honey bees: corbicular pollen, beebread, hive debris, intestinal contents, body surface of nurses and forager bees, comparing two different landscapes, Minas Gerais, Brazil and Maryland, United States. The sampling of five hives in Brazil and four in the USA yielded 217 yeast and 284 bacterial isolates. Whereas the yeast community, accounted for 47 species from 29 genera, was dominated in Brazil by Aureobasidium sp. and Candida orthopsilosis, the major yeast recovered from the USA was Debaryomyces hansenii. The bacterial community was more diverse, encompassing 65 species distributed across 31 genera. Overall, most isolates belonged to Firmicutes, genus Bacillus. Among LAB, species from Lactobacillus were the most prevalent. Cluster analysis evidenced high structuration of the microbial communities, with two distinguished microbial groups between Brazil and the United States. In general, the higher difference among sites and substrates were dependents on the turnover effect (~ 93% of the beta diversity), with a more pronounced effect of nestedness (~ 28%) observed from Brazil microbiota change. The relative abundance of yeasts and bacteria also showed the dissimilarity of the microbial communities between both environments. These results provide a comprehensive view of microorganisms associated with A. mellifera, highlighting the importance of the environment in the establishment of the microbiota associated with honey bees.

Experiment 1

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Curated date: 2024/03/07

Curator: Adenike Oladimeji-Kasumu

Revision editor(s): Adenike Oladimeji-Kasumu

Subjects

Location of subjects: Brazil; United States of America

Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled. Contact us to have more species added.: Not specified

Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology: Intestinal mucosa Bowel mucosa,Bowel mucosa of organ,Bowel mucous membrane,Bowel organ mucosa,Intestine mucosa,Intestine mucosa of organ,Intestine mucous membrane,Intestine organ mucosa,Mucosa of bowel,Mucosa of intestine,Mucosa of organ of bowel,Mucosa of organ of intestine,Mucous membrane of bowel,Mucous membrane of intestine,Organ mucosa of bowel,Organ mucosa of intestine,Tunica mucosa intestini,Intestinal mucosa,intestinal mucosa

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology: Restricted to specific location localized,Restricted to specific location,restricted to specific location

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: Brazilian hive microenvironment

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: North American hive microenvironments

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: North American samples were collected from four hives of honey bees

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 5

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 4

Antibiotics exclusion Number of days without antibiotics usage (if applicable) and other antibiotics-related criteria used to exclude participants (if any): 2 weeks

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: ITS / ITS2

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: Not specified

Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance: RT-qPCR

Statistical Analysis

Data transformation Data transformation applied to microbial abundance measurements prior to differential abundance testing (if any).: raw counts

Confounders controlled for Confounding factors that have been accounted for by stratification or model adjustment: physical activity

Signature 1

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Curated date: 2024/03/07

Curator: Adenike Oladimeji-Kasumu

Revision editor(s): Adenike Oladimeji-Kasumu, Rahila

Source: Table 5

Description: Frequency of occurrence (fi) and density (ρ, in log CFU g−1 or CFU individual bee−1) of bacteria associated with honey bee substrates from the United States and Brazil

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in North American hive microenvironments

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Bacillus licheniformis
Bacillus sp. (in: firmicutes)
Priestia megaterium
Priestia aryabhattai

Revision editor(s): Adenike Oladimeji-Kasumu, Rahila

Signature 2

Edit History Delete

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Curated date: 2024/03/07

Curator: Adenike Oladimeji-Kasumu

Revision editor(s): Adenike Oladimeji-Kasumu

Source: Table 5

Description: Frequency of occurrence (fi) and density (ρ, in log CFU g−1 or CFU individual bee−1) of bacteria associated with honey bee substrates from the United States and Brazil

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in North American hive microenvironments

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Bacillus subtilis
Lactobacillus sp.
Lysinibacillus fusiformis

Revision editor(s): Adenike Oladimeji-Kasumu