ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Bacteria and Host
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1608835
This article is part of the Research TopicEffects of Dietary Nutrients on Intestinal Microbiome: Insights into Gastrointestinal Diseases in Animals Volume IIView all articles
Microorganism changes in the gut of Apis mellifera surviving for the long term in Camellia oleifera forests
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hunan Academy of Forestry, Changsha, China
- 2Yichun University, Yichun, Jiangxi, China
- 3Hunan Linkeda Agricultural ＆ Forestry Technology Service Co., Ltd., Changsha, China
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in C. oleifera nectar and pollen cause honey bee larval rot and worker bloats. Honey bee colonies surviving in C. oleifera forests for a long period have low rates of larval rot and worker bloats; however, the mechanism of oligosaccharide metabolism is unclear. In this study, we used metagenomics and metabolomics to investigate the structure and function of the gut flora and the digestion characteristics of oligosaccharides in the gut of A. mellifera foragers (CN group) that had been in the C. oleifera forest for a long period (continuously for 14 years), and those that had not been pollinated with C. oleifera (N group) after 24 h of consumption of C. oleifera honey. The results revealed that the abundance of Gilliamella apicola up to 24.08%, which can metabolize α-galactoside (α-Gal), was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the gut of foragers in the CN group than in the N group. Additionally, the gut flora of foragers in the CN group carried a significantly higher (P < 0.05) abundance of genes encoding α-galactosidase (Glycoside hydrolase family 4, GH4) than the N group. Similarly, metabolomic results indicated that the three toxic oligosaccharides in C. oleifera honey were lower in the gut of CN group foragers. These results suggest that the gut flora of A. mellifera, which inhabits oil tea forests for long periods of time, changes and adapts to the predominant ecological niche, enhancing the host's ability to metabolise toxic oligosaccharides. This important discovery provides positive guidance for the subsequent directions for breeding of A. mellifera (G. apicola enrichment and GH4 upregulation), specialized in pollinating C. oleifera.
Keywords: Honey bee, Gilliamella apicola, GH4, pollinate, Microbial structure
Received: 09 Apr 2025; Accepted: 26 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Li, Yuan, Chen, Xu, Tang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Caixia Liu, Hunan Academy of Forestry, Changsha, China
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