Compartmentalization of bacterial and fungal microbiomes in the gut of adult honeybees

Callegari, Matteo; Crotti, Elena; Fusi, Marco; Marasco, Ramona; Gonella, Elena; De Noni, Ivano; Romano, Diego; Borin, Sara; Tsiamis, George; Cherif, Ameur; Alma, Alberto; Daffonchio, Daniele

Abstract

The core gut microbiome of adult honeybee comprises a set of recurring bacterial phylotypes, accompanied by lineage-specific, variable, and less abundant environmental bacterial phylotypes. Several mutual interactions and functional services to the host, including the support provided for growth, hormonal signaling, and behavior, are attributed to the core and lineage-specific taxa. By contrast, the diversity and distribution of the minor environmental phylotypes and fungal members in the gut remain overlooked. In the present study, we hypothesized that the microbial components of forager honeybees (i.e., core bacteria, minor environmental phylotypes, and fungal members) are compartmentalized along the gut portions. The diversity and distribution of such three microbial components were investigated in the context of the physico-chemical conditions of different gut compartments. We observed that changes in the distribution and abundance of microbial components in the gut are consistently compartment-specific for all the three microbial components, indicating that the ecological and physiological interactions among the host and microbiome vary with changing physico-chemical and metabolic conditions of the gut.

Citation

Callegari, M., Crotti, E., Fusi, M., Marasco, R., Gonella, E., De Noni, I., Romano, D., Borin, S., Tsiamis, G., Cherif, A., Alma, A., & Daffonchio, D. (2021). Compartmentalization of bacterial and fungal microbiomes in the gut of adult honeybees. npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, 7, Article 42. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-021-00212-9

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 23, 2021
• Online Publication Date: May 7, 2021
• Publication Date: May 7, 2021
• Deposit Date: May 14, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: May 14, 2021
• Journal: npj Biofilms and Microbiomes
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Article Number: 42
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-021-00212-9
• Keywords: honeybees; gut; bacterial microbiome; fungal microbiome
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2772541