Genetic divergence and functional convergence of gut bacteria between the Eastern honey bee Apis cerana and the Western honey bee Apis mellifera.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The functional relevance of intra-species diversity in natural microbial communities remains largely unexplored. The guts of two closely related honey bee species, Apis cerana and A. mellifera, are colonised by a similar set of core bacterial species composed of host-specific strains, thereby providing a good model for an intra-species diversity study.

Objectives

We aim to assess the functional relevance of intra-species diversity of A. cerana and A. mellifera gut microbiota.

Methods

Honey bee workers were collected from four regions of China. Their gut microbiomes were investigated by shotgun metagenomic sequencing, and the bacterial compositions were compared at the species level. A cross-species colonisation assay was conduc

SUBMITTER: Wu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9039653 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature