ABSTRACT

Maintaining beneficial interactions with microbial symbionts is vital for animal health. Yet, for social insects, the stability of microbial associations within and between cohorts is largely unknown. We investigated temporal changes in the microbiomes of nine stingless bee (Tetragonula carbonaria) colonies at seven timepoints across a 10-month period when moved between two climatically and florally different sites. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene and fungal ITS amplicon sequencing confirmed that microbiomes varied considerably between colonies initially at site one. However, following relocation, considerable changes occurred in bacterial community composition within each colony, and the microbiome composition became more similar across colonies. Notably, Snodgrassella disappeared and Zymobacter appeared as relatively abundant taxa. Remarkably, bacterial communities within colonies continued to shift over time but remained similar across colonies, becoming dominated by Acinetobacter six months after returning to the original site. Our results indicate that the stingless bee microbiome can undergo major changes in response to the environment, and that these changes can be long-lasting. Such legacy effects have not been reported for corbiculate bees. Further understanding the microbial ecology of stingless bees will aid future management of colonies used in agricultural production.

中文翻译：

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菌落迁移后无刺蜂觅食者微生物组的时间变化

摘要

与微生物共生体保持有益的相互作用对动物健康至关重要。然而，对于社交昆虫来说，队列内部和队列之间的微生物关联的稳定性很大程度上未知。当我们在两个气候和花卉位置不同的地点之间移动时，我们在10个月的七个时间点调查了九个无刺蜂（Tetragonula carbonaria）菌落的微生物群落的时间变化。细菌16S rRNA基因和真菌ITS扩增子测序证实，最初在第一个位点的菌落之间的微生物群落差异很大。但是，搬迁后，每个菌落内细菌群落组成发生了相当大的变化，并且微生物菌落的组成在各个菌落之间变得更加相似。值得注意的是，Snodgrassella消失了，发酵杆菌似乎是相对丰富的分类单元。值得注意的是，菌落内的细菌群落随着时间的推移而不断变化，但在菌落间仍保持相似，在返回原始位点六个月后被不动杆菌所控制。我们的结果表明，无刺蜜蜂微生物组会响应环境而发生重大变化，并且这些变化可能是持久的。还没有报道过这种对蜜蜂的遗留效应。进一步了解无刺蜜蜂的微生物生态学将有助于将来对农业生产中使用的菌落进行管理。