Fecal transplant allows transmission of the gut microbiota in honey bees.

Unlabelled: The study of the fecal microbiota is crucial for unraveling the pathways through which gut symbionts are acquired and transmitted. While stable gut microbial communities are essential for honey bee health, their modes of acquisition and transmission are yet to be confirmed. The gut of honey bees is colonized by symbiotic bacteria within 5 days after emergence from their wax cells as adults.

Host-derived organic acids enable gut colonization of the honey bee symbiont Snodgrassella alvi.

Diverse bacteria can colonize the animal gut using dietary nutrients or by engaging in microbial crossfeeding interactions. Less is known about the role of host-derived nutrients in enabling gut bacterial colonization. Here we examined metabolic interactions within the evolutionary ancient symbiosis between the honey bee (Apis mellifera) and the core gut microbiota member Snodgrassella alvi.

Niche partitioning facilitates coexistence of closely related honey bee gut bacteria.

Ecological processes underlying bacterial coexistence in the gut are not well understood. Here, we disentangled the effect of the host and the diet on the coexistence of four closely related species colonizing the honey bee gut. We serially passaged the four species through gnotobiotic bees and in liquid cultures in the presence of either pollen (bee diet) or simple sugars.