Significant compositional and functional variation reveals the patterns of gut microbiota evolution among the widespread Asian honeybee populations.

ABSTRACT: The gut microbiome is a crucial element that facilitates a host's adaptation to a changing environment. Compared to the western honeybee Apis mellifera, the Asian honeybee, Apis cerana populations across its natural range remain mostly semi-feral and are less affected by bee management, which provides a good system to investigate how gut microbiota evolve under environmental heterogeneity on large geographic scales. We compared and analyzed the gut microbiomes of 99 Asian honeybees, from genetically diverged populations covering 13 provinces across China. Bacterial composition varied significantly across populations at phylotype, sequence-discrete population (SDP), and strain levels, but with extensive overlaps, indicating that the diversity of microbial community among A.

SUBMITTER: Su Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9478171 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature