The honey bee microbiota

Joint Conference on 6^th Annual Conference on Microbiology & Annual Conference on Microbes and Beneficial Microbes

October 16-17, 2017 Baltimore, USA

Kirk E Anderson

University of Arizona, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Med Microb Diagn

Abstract :

The honey bee microbiota has become a hot-spot of recent research. Highly co-evolved with its host, the hindgut microbiota of a worker honey bee consists of a few bacterial species shown to occur reliably in particular proportions. Altered microbiota structure is associated with host deficiencies, and a variety of bacteria found throughout the hive environment can dominate the worker gut suppressing or displacing microbiota function. Combined results suggests environmental insults alter gut bacterial balance, leading to decreased host function and disease progression. Specific functional groups of native bacteria represent a model system to investigate dysbiosis and the evolution of host tolerance/resistance traits in honey bee-microbe interactions.