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Comparison of Varroa destructor and Worker Honeybee Microbiota Within Hives Indicates Shared Bacteria

  • Invertebrate Microbiology
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Abstract

The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor is a major pest of the honeybee Apis mellifera. In a previous study, bacteria were found in the guts of mites collected from winter beehive debris and were identified using Sanger sequencing of their 16S rRNA genes. In this study, community comparison and diversity analyses were performed to examine the microbiota of honeybees and mites at the population level. The microbiota of the mites and honeybees in 26 colonies in seven apiaries in Czechia was studied. Between 10 and 50 Varroa females were collected from the bottom board, and 10 worker bees were removed from the peripheral comb of the same beehive. Both bees and mites were surface sterilized. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene libraries revealed significant differences in the Varroa and honeybee microbiota. The Varroa microbiota was less diverse than was the honeybee microbiota, and the relative abundances of bacterial taxa in the mite and bee microbiota differed. The Varroa mites, but not the honeybees, were found to be inhabited by Diplorickettsia. The relative abundance of Arsenophonus, Morganella, Spiroplasma, Enterococcus, and Pseudomonas was higher in Varroa than in honeybees, and the Diplorickettsia symbiont detected in this study is specific to Varroa mites. The results demonstrated that there are shared bacteria between Varroa and honeybee populations but that these bacteria occur in different relative proportions in the honeybee and mite bacteriomes. These results support the suggestion of bacterial transfer via mites, although only some of the transferred bacteria may be harmful.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic through Grant No. LH14060 (KONTAKT; cooperation between Czechia and the USA). The authors thank Sylvie Hejdankova and Martin Markovic for their technical help. We appreciate the advice provided by the reviewers of the original manuscript. We also acknowledge the help and support of beekeepers in the collection of data and samples. Finally, we thank the American Journal Experts for providing language editing service.

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  1. Biologically Active Substances in Crop Protection, Crop Research Institute, Drnovska 507/73, Prague 6-Ruzyne, 16106, Czechia

    Jan Hubert, Marta Nesvorna & Tomas Erban

  2. Bee Research Institute at Dol, Libcice nad Vltavou, Czechia

    Martin Kamler

  3. Hydrological Database & Water Balance, Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Na Sabatce 2050/17, 143 06, Prague 412, Czechia

    Ondrej Ledvinka

  4. Epidemiology and Ecology of Microorganisms, Crop Research Institute, Drnovska 507, Prague 6, Ruzyne, CZ, 161 06, Czechia

    Jan Kopecky

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Hubert, J., Kamler, M., Nesvorna, M. et al. Comparison of Varroa destructor and Worker Honeybee Microbiota Within Hives Indicates Shared Bacteria. Microb Ecol 72, 448–459 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-016-0776-y

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