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. 2020 May;16(5):20200003.
doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0003. Epub 2020 May 6.

Honeybee microbiome is stabilized in the presence of propolis

Perot Saelao  1 , Renata S Borba  2 , Vincent Ricigliano  1 , Marla Spivak  3 , Michael Simone-Finstrom  1
Affiliations

Honeybee microbiome is stabilized in the presence of propolis

Perot Saelao et al. Biol Lett. 2020 May.

Abstract

Honeybees have developed many unique mechanisms to help ensure the proper maintenance of homeostasis within the hive. One method includes the collection of chemically complex plant resins combined with wax to form propolis, which is deposited throughout the hive. Propolis is believed to play a significant role in reducing disease load in the colony due to its antimicrobial and antiseptic properties. However, little is known about how propolis may interact with bee-associated microbial symbionts, and if propolis alters microbial community structure. In this study, we found that propolis appears to maintain a stable microbial community composition and reduce the overall taxonomic diversity of the honeybee microbiome. Several key members of the gut microbiota were significantly altered in the absence of propolis, suggesting that it may play an important role in maintaining favourable abundance and composition of gut symbionts. Overall, these findings suggest that propolis may help to maintain honeybee colony microbial health by limiting changes to the overall microbial community.

Keywords: 16S rRNA; Apis mellifera; microbiota; plant resin; social immunity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests. Any mention of trade names or commercial products in does not imply a recommendation or endorsement by the USDA. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
(a) Taxonomic composition of the microbial communities of bees from propolis-rich and propolis-poor colonies; (b) comparison of the number of times each taxa was observed by a given read (feature abundance) of four significantly differentiated taxa by ANCOM analysis.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
(a) Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) using Bray–Curtis and (b) weighted UniFrac measures of dissimilarity showing greater levels of similarity (clustering) among propolis-rich samples as compared to samples from propolis-poor colonies along with the 95% confidence interval indicated by the respective circles. Significance determined through PERMANOVA: Bray–Curtis: p = 0.027, weighted UniFrac: p = 0.002.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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