Early Queen Development in Honey Bees: Social Context and Queen Breeder Source Affect Gut Microbiota and Associated Metabolism.

ABSTRACT: The highly social honey bee has dense populations but a significantly reduced repertoire of immune genes relative to solitary species, suggesting a greater reliance on social immunity. Here we investigate immune gene expression and gut microbial succession in queens during colony introduction. Recently mated queens were placed into an active colony or a storage hive for multiple queens: a queen-bank. Feeding intensity, social context, and metabolic demand differ greatly between the two environments. After 3 weeks, we examined gene expression associated with oxidative stress and immunity and performed high-throughput sequencing of the queen gut microbiome across four alimentary tract niches. Microbiota and gene expression in the queen hindgut differed by time, queen breeder source, and meta

SUBMITTER: Copeland DC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9430896 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature