Deep Divergence and Genomic Diversification of Gut Symbionts of Neotropical Stingless Bees.

ABSTRACT: Social bees harbor conserved gut microbiotas that may have been acquired in a common ancestor of social bees and subsequently codiversified with their hosts. However, most of this knowledge is based on studies on the gut microbiotas of honey bees and bumblebees. Much less is known about the gut microbiotas of the third and most diverse group of social bees, the stingless bees. Specifically, the absence of genomic data from their microbiotas presents an important knowledge gap in understanding the evolution and functional diversity of the social bee microbiota. Here, we combined community profiling with culturing and genome sequencing of gut bacteria from six neotropical stingless bee species from Brazil. Phylogenomic analyses show that most stingless bee gut isolates form deep-branching si

SUBMITTER: Sarton-Loheac G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10128065 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature