Identifying bacterial predictors of honey bee health.
Non-targeted approaches are useful tools to identify new or emerging issues in bee health. Here, we utilise next generation sequencing to highlight bacteria associated with healthy and unhealthy honey bee colonies, and then use targeted methods to screen a wider pool of colonies with known health status. Our results provide the first evidence that bacteria from the genus Arsenophonus are associated with poor health in honey bee colonies. We also discovered Lactobacillus and Leuconostoc spp. were associated with healthier honey bee colonies. Our results highlight the importance of understanding how the wider microbial population relates to honey bee colony health.
Fera, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, United Kingdom; Institute for Agri-Food Research and Innovation, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom. Electronic address: giles.budge@fera.co.uk.
Giles E
GE
Budge
Fera, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, United Kingdom.
Ian
I
Adams
Fera, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, United Kingdom.
Richard
R
Thwaites
Fera, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, United Kingdom.
Stéphane
S
Pietravalle
Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZB, United Kingdom.
Georgia C
GC
Drew
Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZB, United Kingdom.
Gregory D D
GD
Hurst
Fera, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, United Kingdom.
Victoria
V
Tomkies
Fera, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, United Kingdom; Institute for Agri-Food Research and Innovation, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom.
Neil
N
Boonham
Animal and Plant Health Agency, Sand Hutton YO41 1LZ, United Kingdom.
Mike
M
Brown
D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000382:microbiology*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis
D012329:RNA, Bacterial
Microbiome; Probiotic; Symbiont