Honey bee symbiont buffers larvae against nutritional stress and supplements lysine

Honey bees have suffered dramatic losses in recent years, largely due to multiple stressors underpinned by poor nutrition [ 1 ]. Nutritional stress especially harms larvae, who mature into workers unable to meet the needs of their colony [ 2 ]. In this study, we characterize the metabolic capabiliti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The ISME Journal 2022-09, Vol.16 (9), p.2160-2168
Main Authors: Parish, Audrey J., Rice, Danny W., Tanquary, Vicki M., Tennessen, Jason M., Newton, Irene L. G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Amino acids
Animals
Apis mellifera
Bacteria
Bees
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Bombella apis
Diet
Dietary Supplements
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Gain-Loss
Honey
Larva - microbiology
Larvae
Life Sciences
Lysine
Microbial Ecology
Microbial Genetics and Genomics
Microbiology
Mutualism
Nutrient deficiency
Nutrition
Phylogeny
Symbiosis
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Summary:Honey bees have suffered dramatic losses in recent years, largely due to multiple stressors underpinned by poor nutrition [ 1 ]. Nutritional stress especially harms larvae, who mature into workers unable to meet the needs of their colony [ 2 ]. In this study, we characterize the metabolic capabilities of a honey bee larvae-associated bacterium, Bombella apis (formerly Parasaccharibacter apium ), and its effects on the nutritional resilience of larvae. We found that B. apis is the only bacterium associated with larvae that can withstand the antimicrobial larval diet. Further, we found that B. apis can synthesize all essential amino acids and significantly alters the amino acid content of synthetic larval diet, largely by supplying the essential amino acid lysine. Analyses of gene gain/loss across the phylogeny suggest that four amino acid transporters were gained in recent B. apis ancestors. In addition, the transporter LysE is conserved across all sequenced strains of B. apis . Finally, we tested the impact of B. apis on developing honey bee larvae subjected to nutritional stress and found that larvae supplemented with B. apis are bolstered against mass reduction despite limited nutrition. Together, these data suggest a novel role of B. apis as a nutritional mutualist of honey bee larvae.
ISSN:1751-7362
1751-7370
DOI:10.1038/s41396-022-01268-x