The gut microbiome is associated with behavioural task in honey bees

Area of Science:

• Animal ecology
• Microbiology
• Behavioral ecology

Background:

• The gut microbiome is crucial for animal health and ecology.
• The link between social behavior and gut microbial communities is understudied.
• Honey bees exhibit complex social structures and task-specific behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between worker honey bee gut microbial composition and their performed behavioral tasks.
• To explore how task-related environmental exposures influence the gut microbiome.
• To identify specific gut bacteria potentially linked to honey bee behavior and health.

Main Methods:

• Observation of marked worker bees in five age-matched observation hives over four days.
• Characterization of gut bacterial communities using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing.
• Comparison of microbial communities between bees performing predominantly foraging tasks and those performing predominantly in-nest tasks.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in the relative abundance of certain core gut bacteria were observed between bees performing different tasks.
• Differentially abundant bacterial taxa are implicated in carbohydrate metabolism, transport, and overall bee health.
• Task-specific microbial profiles suggest an influence of environment and diet on the gut microbiome.

Conclusions:

• Worker honey bee gut microbial composition is associated with behavioral tasks.
• Task-related environmental exposures and diet play a role in shaping the gut microbiome.
• Specific core bacterial taxa warrant further functional investigation for their role in bee health and behavior.