Preliminary evidences of gut microbiota composition of a particular population of honey bee from Marche region

Gastrointestinal microbiota shows a fundamental role in prevention of diseases, increase resistance and stimulate immune system development also in Apis mellifera (honey bee). The social insect honey bee is the most important pollinator globally, and the health of colonies has been a major concern following colony losses in the last decade. A few years ago was identified a bee population, which was isolated from several decades by other populations of Ape mellifera, in an area far from any human activities (Roti Abbey area, Matelica, Marche Region), without pollutants, and away from “genetic contamination” by other populations of honey bees. Our study was directed to characterize the “core” gut microbiome of this particular bee population by quantitative PCR along with deep sequencing of amplicons of the V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene to characterize both the size and the composition of the microbiome of bee workers. Preliminary results demonstrate a significant difference in Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillaceae composition of some stages of worker bees belonging to Roti bee population. These results open the possibility of isolating and expanding bacterial strains present in this honey bee population, and using these bacterial strains as “probiotics” for common honey bees.