The gut microbiome of honey bee (Apis cerana) in Hung Yen province, Viet Nam

Abstract

Recent studies have found that the bacteria in the bee’s intestines play an essential role in improving the health of honey bees, increasing its resistance to a diversity of diseases. In this study, metagenomic analysis of microbial 16S rRNA sequences by next generation sequencing (NGS) was used to determine the composition and structure of gut microflora in honey bee Apis cerana at Hung Yen province, Viet Nam. The studied result showed that the microbiome in A. cerana gut was dominated by four major phyla of bacteria including Proteobacteria (47.6%), Firmicutes (45.20%), Actinobacteria (4.20%) and Bacteroidetes (2%). Of which, there were four core bacteria detected including Gilliamella
apicola group (5%), Lactobacillus Firm-5 (7%), Lactobacillus Firm-4 (3%) and Bifidobacterium asteroids group (4%). Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) comprised of 47% of the identified bacteria including B. asteroids group, L. fermentum, L. helsingborgensis, L. kimbladii, L. kunkeei group, L. mellis. These LAB have been known to play important role in the honey bee health and can be promising candidates for probiotic development to enhance honey bee health and to manage the honey bee diseases.