Gut microbiota associated with two species of domesticated honey bees from Thailand

Honey bees are universally known to play a critical role in mediating pollination. Recently, attention has been drawn to the influence of gut microbiota on bee health. Studies on the honey bee (Apis mellifera) gut community have become widely appreciated due to conserved phylotypes of gut microbiota. Here, we focused on profiling the gut microbiota of two honey bee species native to Thailand, Apis florea (dwarf honey bee; LB) and Apis dorsata (giant honey bee; GB). Despite inhabiting the same landscape, different Apis species might have different gut microbial profiles. Analysis of gut bacterial diversity and community composition of LB and GB honey bees using deep 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed major differences in bacterial diversity (OTUs) and abundance of core members in the gut of the two species. Lower species evenness was observed in LB than in GB (P < 0.01). Our results also show that gut microbial communities within LB were dominated by Lactobacillus (P < 0.001), while Gilliamella (P < 0.01) and Snodgrassella (P < 0.05) were predominantly associated with GB. Overall, our study has provided a preliminary overview of the gut microbiota of two honey bee species in Thailand. Further study should therefore focus on the association of host ecology and behavior with the bee gut microbiome.