Hotchkiss Michelle Z, Poulain Alexandre J, Forrest Jessica R K
Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2025 Mar 19;91(3):e0203624. doi: 10.1128/aem.02036-24. Epub 2025 Feb 6.
Bumble bees are key pollinators for natural and agricultural plant communities. Their health and performance are supported by a core gut microbiota composed of a few bacterial taxa. However, the taxonomic composition and community structure of bumble bee gut microbiotas can vary with bee species, environment, and origin (i.e., whether colonies come from the wild or a commercial rearing facility), and it is unclear whether metabolic capabilities therefore vary as well. Here we used metagenomic sequencing to examine gut microbiota community composition, structure, and metabolic potential across bumble bees from two different commercial suppliers, wild , and three other wild bumble bee species sampled from sites within the native range of all four species. We found that the community structure of gut microbiotas varied between bumble bee species, between populations from different origins within species, and between commercial suppliers. Notably, we found that is consistently present in some wild bumble bee species-suggesting it may be a previously unrecognized core phylotype of bumble bees-and that commercial colonies can lack core phylotypes consistently found in wild populations. However, despite variation in community structure, the high-level metabolic potential of gut microbiotas was largely consistent across all hosts, including for metabolic capabilities related to host performance, though metabolic activity remains to be investigated.IMPORTANCEOur study is the first to compare genome-level taxonomic structure and metabolic potential of whole bumble bee gut microbiotas between commercial suppliers and between commercial and wild populations. In addition, we profiled the full gut microbiotas of three wild bumble bee species for the first time. Overall, our results provide new insight into bumble bee gut microbiota community structure and function and will help researchers evaluate how well studies conducted in one bumble bee population will translate to other populations and species. Research on taxonomic and metabolic variation in bumble bee gut microbiotas across species and origins is of increasing relevance as we continue to discover new ways that social bee gut microbiotas influence host health, and as some bumble bee species decline in range and abundance.
大黄蜂是自然和农业植物群落的关键传粉者。它们的健康和表现由少数细菌类群组成的核心肠道微生物群维持。然而，大黄蜂肠道微生物群的分类组成和群落结构会因蜜蜂种类、环境和来源（即蜂群是来自野外还是商业饲养设施）而有所不同，目前尚不清楚其代谢能力是否也会因此而变化。在这里，我们使用宏基因组测序来研究来自两个不同商业供应商的大黄蜂、野生大黄蜂以及从这四个物种原生范围内的地点采集的其他三种野生大黄蜂物种的肠道微生物群群落组成、结构和代谢潜力。我们发现，肠道微生物群的群落结构在大黄蜂物种之间、物种内不同来源的种群之间以及商业供应商之间存在差异。值得注意的是，我们发现[某菌]在一些野生大黄蜂物种中始终存在，这表明它可能是大黄蜂先前未被认识的核心系统发育型，而且商业[某菌]蜂群可能缺乏在野生种群中始终存在的核心系统发育型。然而，尽管群落结构存在差异，但肠道微生物群的高水平代谢潜力在所有宿主中基本一致，包括与宿主表现相关的代谢能力，不过代谢活性仍有待研究。
重要性
我们的研究首次比较了商业供应商之间以及商业和野生种群之间整个大黄蜂肠道微生物群的基因组水平分类结构和代谢潜力。此外，我们首次对三种野生大黄蜂物种的完整肠道微生物群进行了分析。总体而言，我们的结果为大黄蜂肠道微生物群群落结构和功能提供了新的见解，并将帮助研究人员评估在一个大黄蜂种群中进行的研究在其他种群和物种中的适用性。随着我们不断发现群居蜜蜂肠道微生物群影响宿主健康的新方式，以及一些大黄蜂物种的分布范围和数量下降，对大黄蜂肠道微生物群跨物种和来源的分类和代谢变异的研究变得越来越重要。
