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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

A Novel Behavioral Assay to Investigate Gustatory Responses of Individual, Freely-moving Bumble Bees (Bombus terrestris)
Published on: July 21, 2016
Bifidobacterium bombi sp. nov., from the bumblebee digestive tract
Abstract:
Gram-positive-staining, anaerobic, non-spore-forming, lactate- and acetate-producing bacterial strains were isolated from the digestive tracts of different bumblebee species (Bombus lucorum, Bombus pascuorum and Bombus lapidarius). All of the isolates produced fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase activity. A representative strain, BluCI/TPT, was characterized further. Cells of strain BluCI/TPT showed occasional bifurcation and irregular constrictions. The bacterium utilized a wide range of carbohydrates. Glucose was fermented to acetate and lactate. The DNA base composition was 47.2 mol% G+C. Complete 16S rRNA and partial hsp60 gene sequences were obtained and phylogenetic relationships were determined. Strain BluCI/TPT and related isolates were located in the actinobacterial cluster and were closely related to the genera Bifidobacterium, Scardovia, Aeriscardovia and Parascardovia. The results presented support the proposal of a novel species to accommodate strain BluCI/TPT, with the name Bifidobacterium bombi sp. nov.; the type strain is BluCI/TPT (=DSM 19703T=ATCC BAA-1567T).
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