Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2012
Symbionts as major modulators of insect health: Lactic acid bacteria and honeybees
Vásquez A, Forsgren E, Fries I, Paxton RJ, Flaberg E, Szekely L, Olofsson TCAbstract
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are well recognized beneficial host-associated members of the microbiota of humans and animals. Yet LAB-associations of invertebrates have been poorly characterized and their functions remain obscure. Here we show that honeybees possess an abundant, diverse and ancient LAB microbiota in their honey crop with beneficial effects for bee health, defending them against microbial threats. Our studies of LAB in all extant honeybee species plus related apid bees reveal one of the largest collections of novel species from the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium ever discovered within a single insect and suggest a long (>80 mya) history of association. Bee associated microbiotas highlight Lactobacillus kunkeei as the dominant LAB member. Those showing potent antimicrobial properties are acquired by callow honey bee workers from nestmates and maintained within the crop in biofilms, though beekeeping management practices can negatively impact this microbiota. Prophylactic practices that enhance LAB, or supplementary feeding of LAB, may serve in integrated approaches to sustainable pollinator service provision. We anticipate this microbiota will become central to studies on honeybee health, including colony collapse disorder, and act as an exemplar case of insect-microbe symbiosis.Published in
PLoS ONE2012, volume: 7, number: 3, article number: e33188
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Authors' information
Vásquez, Alejandra
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology
Fries, Ingemar
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology
Paxton, Robert J.
Flaberg, Emelie
Szekely, Laslo
Olofsson, Tobias
UKÄ Subject classification
Pathobiology
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033188
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/40049