Xylocopa caerulea and Xylocopa auripennis harbor a homologous gut microbiome related to that of eusocial bees

Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbiology

Yuquan Wang¹  Danlei Liang²  Shijie Wang³  Jinglin Gao³  Shan Zhao³  Wensu Han³  Yihai Zhong³  Yifan Gu⁴ 

[1] College of Plant Protection, Hainan University, Haikou, China;Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China;Environment and Plant Protection Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Haikou, China;Bee Industry Technology Research Center, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Haikou, China;Environment and Plant Protection Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Haikou, China;Sanya Institute of China Agricultural University, Sanya, China;Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China;

关键词: carpenter bees;    gut microbiota;    bacteria symbiosis;    Candidatus Schmidhempelia;    Bombiscardovia;    eusocial bees;    Bombilactobacillus;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmicb.2023.1124964

 received in 2023-01-10, accepted in 2023-04-20,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundEusocial bees, such as bumblebees and honey bees, harbor host-specific gut microbiota through their social behaviors. Conversely, the gut microbiota of solitary bees is erratic owing to their lack of eusocial activities. Carpenter bees (genus Xylocopa) are long-lived bees that do not exhibit advanced eusociality like honey bees. However, they often compete for nests to reproduce. Xylocopa caerulea and Xylocopa auripennis are important pollinators of wild plants on Hainan Island. Whether they have host-specific bacteria in their guts similar to eusocial bees remains unknown.MethodsWe targeted the bacterial 16S rRNA V3-V4 region to investigate the diversity of bacterial symbionts in the fore-midgut and hindgut of two carpenter bees, X. caerulea and X. auripennis.ResultsA maximum of 4,429 unique amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were detected from all samples, belonging to 10 different phyla. X. caerulea and X. auripennis shared similar bacterial community profiles, with Lactobacillaceae, Bifidobacteriaceae, and Orbaceae being dominant in their entire guts. X. caerulea and X. auripennis harbor a highly conserved core set of bacteria, including the genera Candidatus Schmidhempelia and Bombiscardovia. These two bacterial taxa from carpenter bees are closely related to those isolated from bumblebees. The LEfSe analysis showed that Lactobacillaceae, Bifidobacteriaceae, and the genus Bombilactobacillus were significantly enriched in the hindguts of both carpenter bees. Functional prediction suggested that the most enriched pathways were involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.ConclusionsOur results revealed the structure of the gut microbiota in two carpenter bees and confirmed the presence of some core bacterial taxa that were previously only found in the guts of social bees.

【 授权许可】

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Copyright © 2023 Gu, Han, Wang, Liang, Gao, Zhong, Zhao and Wang.