Membership robustness but structural change of the native gut microbiota of bumble bees upon systemic immune induction.

ABSTRACT: Understanding factors influencing the composition and maintenance of beneficial host-associated microbial communities is central to understanding their ecological, evolutionary, and health consequences for hosts. Host immunity is often implicated as a regulator of these microbiota, but immunity may also play a disruptive role, with responses to infection perturbing beneficial communities. Such effects may be more prominent from innate immune responses, with more rapid-acting and often non-specific components, compared to adaptive responses. We investigated how upregulation of antibacterial immunity in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens affects its core gut microbiota, testing the hypothesis that immunity-induced perturbation impacts the microbiota structure. Freshly emerged adult bees

SUBMITTER: Sauers LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11536996 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature