Honeybee defense mechanisms: Role of honeybee gut microbiota and antimicrobial peptides in maintaining colony health and preventing diseases.

Honeybees play a vital role in pollination and the maintenance of ecosystem biodiversity, making their health and well-being crucial for agriculture and environmental sustainability. Bee health is modulated by symbiotic microorganisms colonizing the gut in balanced proportions. Studies have demonstrated that these beneficial bacteria have the capacity to enhance the immune system of honey bees, having substantial impact on regulating their immunological responses and hence aiding in defending against pathogenic illnesses. Another important aspect of honeybee health is their innate immune system that is related to their ability to synthesize antimicrobial peptides (AMP). AMPs, the small, cationic peptides are the humoral effector molecules that are synthesized in the hemolymph of the insects after being exposed to microbial infectious agents. A number of honeybee's gut microbiota especially Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB), are known to regulate the production of several AMPs and hence are able to provide protection to these insects against a number of disease agents by modulating their innate immune response via induction of the AMPs genes. These AMPs mainly produced by adult workers are an important and integral part of an insect's immune response. Several AMPs namely apidaecins, abaecins, hymenoptaecins and defensins produced in the adult honeybee, hold the ability to control or prevent a number of diseases in these pollinator insects.