Raymann Kasie, Shaffer Zack, Moran Nancy A
Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, United States of America.
PLoS Biol. 2017 Mar 14;15(3):e2001861. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2001861. eCollection 2017 Mar.
Gut microbiomes play crucial roles in animal health, and shifts in the gut microbial community structure can have detrimental impacts on hosts. Studies with vertebrate models and human subjects suggest that antibiotic treatments greatly perturb the native gut community, thereby facilitating proliferation of pathogens. In fact, persistent infections following antibiotic treatment are a major medical issue. In apiculture, antibiotics are frequently used to prevent bacterial infections of larval bees, but the impact of antibiotic-induced dysbiosis (microbial imbalance) on bee health and susceptibility to disease has not been fully elucidated. Here, we evaluated the effects of antibiotic exposure on the size and composition of honeybee gut communities. We monitored the survivorship of bees following antibiotic treatment in order to determine if dysbiosis of the gut microbiome impacts honeybee health, and we performed experiments to determine whether antibiotic exposure increases susceptibility to infection by opportunistic pathogens. Our results show that antibiotic treatment can have persistent effects on both the size and composition of the honeybee gut microbiome. Antibiotic exposure resulted in decreased survivorship, both in the hive and in laboratory experiments in which bees were exposed to opportunistic bacterial pathogens. Together, these results suggest that dysbiosis resulting from antibiotic exposure affects bee health, in part due to increased susceptibility to ubiquitous opportunistic pathogens. Not only do our results highlight the importance of the gut microbiome in honeybee health, but they also provide insights into how antibiotic treatment affects microbial communities and host health.
肠道微生物群在动物健康中发挥着关键作用，肠道微生物群落结构的变化会对宿主产生有害影响。对脊椎动物模型和人类受试者的研究表明，抗生素治疗会极大地扰乱天然肠道群落，从而促进病原体的增殖。事实上，抗生素治疗后的持续性感染是一个主要的医学问题。在养蜂业中，抗生素经常被用于预防幼虫蜜蜂的细菌感染，但抗生素诱导的生态失调（微生物失衡）对蜜蜂健康和疾病易感性的影响尚未完全阐明。在这里，我们评估了抗生素暴露对蜜蜂肠道群落大小和组成的影响。我们监测了抗生素治疗后蜜蜂的存活率，以确定肠道微生物群的生态失调是否会影响蜜蜂健康，并且我们进行了实验，以确定抗生素暴露是否会增加蜜蜂对机会性病原体感染的易感性。我们的结果表明，抗生素治疗会对蜜蜂肠道微生物群的大小和组成产生持久影响。抗生素暴露导致蜂巢内以及在实验室实验中（蜜蜂暴露于机会性细菌病原体）蜜蜂的存活率下降。总之，这些结果表明，抗生素暴露导致的生态失调会影响蜜蜂健康，部分原因是对普遍存在的机会性病原体的易感性增加。我们的结果不仅突出了肠道微生物群在蜜蜂健康中的重要性，还提供了关于抗生素治疗如何影响微生物群落和宿主健康的见解。
