Differential carbohydrate utilization and organic acid production by honey bee symbionts.

The honey bee worker gut hosts a community of bacteria that comprises 8-10 core bacterial species, along with a set of more transient environmental microbes. Collectively, these microbes break down and ferment saccharides present in the host's diet, based on analyses of metagenomes, and metatranscriptomes from this environment. As part of this metabolism, the bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids that may serve as a food source for the host bee, stimulating biological processes that may contribute to host weight gain.