Gut microbiota composition of Apis mellifera L. populations from Tunisia

Abstract

Honey bee populations are major contributors to ecosystem stability, providing vital services such as pollination of crops and food security. Currently, honey bees are undergoing severe global decline which is likely due to the disruption of the gut microbiota underlying honey bee health status. The composition and diversity of honey bees’ gut microbiota are affected by several factors. In Tunisia, studies on honey bees’ gut microbiota remain largely unexplored. This study aimed to characterize the gut community composition of honey bee populations from Tunisia and to assess their diversity by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene amplicons. Our results revealed the presence of a core gut microbiota bound to the 4 phylotypes Snodgrassella, Gilliamella, Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium which have different relative abundances across analyzed samples and uncovered the occurrence of pathogens in the sampled honey bee populations. Shannon and Simpson’s diversity indices showed consistent variation patterns in each analyzed sample that could be due to the local environment. This study is a first characterization of the honey bees’ gut microbiota from Tunisia and underscores the need to study the impact of environmental factors on microbiome diversity.