Characterization of the Kenyan Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Gut Microbiota: A First Look at Tropical and Sub-Saharan African Bee Associated Microbiomes

Tola, Yosef Hamba, Waweru, Jacqueline Wahura, Hurst, Gregory DD ORCID: 0000-0002-7163-7784, Slippers, Bernard and Paredes, Juan C (2020) Characterization of the Kenyan Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Gut Microbiota: A First Look at Tropical and Sub-Saharan African Bee Associated Microbiomes. Microorganisms, 8 (11). p. 1721.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8111721

Abstract

<jats:p>Gut microbiota plays important roles in many physiological processes of the host including digestion, protection, detoxification, and development of immune responses. The honey bee (Apis mellifera) has emerged as model for gut-microbiota host interaction studies due to its gut microbiota being highly conserved and having a simple composition. A key gap in this model is understanding how the microbiome differs regionally, including sampling from the tropics and in particular from Africa. The African region is important from the perspective of the native diversity of the bees, and differences in landscape and bee management. Here, we characterized the honey bee gut microbiota in sub-Saharan Africa using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. We confirm the presence of the core gut microbiota members and highlight different compositions of these communities across regions. We found that bees from the coastal regions harbor a higher relative abundance and diversity on core members. Additionally, we showed that Gilliamella, Snodgrassella, and Frischella dominate in all locations, and that altitude and humidity affect Gilliamella abundance. In contrast, we found that Lactobacillus was less common compared temperate regions of the world. This study is a first comprehensive characterization of the gut microbiota of honey bees from sub-Saharan Africa and underscores the need to study microbiome diversity in other indigenous bee species and regions.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Apis mellifera, African honey bee, Gilliamella, Frischella, gut microbiota, microbiome, symbiont
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	17 Nov 2020 08:25
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 23:21
DOI:	10.3390/microorganisms8111721
Open Access URL:	https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/8/11/1721
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3107176