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Bacterial Strains Isolated from Stingless Bee Workers Inhibit the Growth of Apis mellifera Pathogens

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Abstract

Apis mellifera bees are an important resource for the local economy of various regions in Argentina and the maintenance of natural ecosystems. In recent years, different alternatives have been investigated to avoid the reduction or loss of colonies caused by pathogens and parasites such as Ascosphaera apis, Aspergillus flavus, and Paenibacillus larvae. We focused on bacterial strains isolated from the intestine of native stingless bees, to elucidate their antagonistic effect on diseases of A. mellifera colonies. For this purpose, worker bees of the species Tetragonisca fiebrigi, Plebeia spp., and Scaptotrigona jujuyensis were captured from the entrance to tree hives and transported to the laboratory, where their intestines were extracted. Twenty bacterial colonies were isolated from the intestines, and those capable of inhibiting enterobacteria in vitro and producing organic acids, proteases, and chitinases were selected. Four genera, Levilactobacillus, Acetobacter, Lactiplantibacillus, and Pantoea, were selected and identified by the molecular marker that codes for the 16S rRNA gene. For inhibition assays, cell suspensions and cell-free suspensions were performed. All treatments showed significant antibacterial effects, in comparison with the controls, against P. larvae and antifungal effects against A. apis and A. flavus. However, the mechanisms by which these bacteria inhibit the growth of these pathogens were not studied.

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Data Availability

The 16S rRNA gene amplicon data generated in the article are accessible from NCBI through the gene sequence access numbers (OQ144311, OQ144309, OQ25623, OQ144310, OQ144312) available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.

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Acknowledgements

Part of the experimental work was funded by Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnica de Estudios Regionales, Universidad Nacional de Jujuy (SeCTER-UNJu). Marcos Raúl Tejerina has a postdoctoral studies fellowship from Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET-Argentina) and María Isabel Fonseca is a career member of CONICET.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cátedra de Microbiología, Sanidad Apícola y Meliponícola, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Jujuy, Alberdi 47, 4600, Jujuy, Argentina

    Marcos Raúl Tejerina, María José Cabana, Pablo Adrián Enríquez & Marcelo Rafael Benítez-Ahrendts

  2. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas (INECOA)-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Avenida Bolivia 1239, San Salvador de Jujuy, Jujuy, Argentina

    Marcos Raúl Tejerina & Marcelo Rafael Benítez-Ahrendts

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Químicas y Naturales. Instituto de Biotecnología “Dra. María Ebe Reca” (INBIOMIS), Laboratorio de Biotecnología Molecular, Universidad Nacional de Misiones, Misiones, Argentina

    María Isabel Fonseca

  4. CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    María Isabel Fonseca

Authors
  1. Marcos Raúl Tejerina
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  2. María José Cabana
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  3. Pablo Adrián Enríquez
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  4. Marcelo Rafael Benítez-Ahrendts
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  5. María Isabel Fonseca
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Contributions

MRT: wrote the manuscript and conceived and designed the research. MJC and PAE: conducted experiments and collected data. MRBA and MIF: analyzed the data and edited the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Marcos Raúl Tejerina.

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The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.

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The study contains no individual person’s data in any form. Informed consent is not applicable.

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The study did not involve human participants and/or vertebrate animals.

Originality-Significance Statement

This work offers a first insight into the beneficial interactions between bacterial strains and stingless bees in the control of diseases transmitted between species of bees. The function of bacterial in bee colonies, a topic little explored to date, could be the key to the control of pathogens of stingless bees and A. mellifera.

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Supplementary file1—Figure S1: Qualitative observation: a) colonies producing organic acids Acetobacter ghanensis strain LSAMT; b) colonies producing Levilactobacillus brevis strain LSAMM proteases; c) colonies producing Lactiplantibacillus plantarum strain LSAMS chitinases; d) colonies producing organic acids Pantoea agglomerans strain LSAMP; e) colonies producing Levilactobacillus brevis strain LSAMN proteases; f) production of chitinases Levilactobacillus brevis strain LSAMN. Figure S2: Observation of inhibitory zones of P. larvae with CS and CFS: a) Levilactobacillus brevis strain LSAMN; b) Levilactobacillus brevis strain LSAMM; c) Acetobacter ghanensis strain LSAMT; d) Pantoea agglomerans strain LSAMP; e) Lactiplantibacillus plantarum strain LSAMS. Figure S3: A) Observation of biomass growth of the inoculums of A. apis with CS. B) Observation of biomass growth of the inoculums of A. apis with CFS. Figure S4: A) Observation of the growth in biomass of the inoculums of A. flavus with CS. B) Observation of the growth in biomass of the inoculums of A. flavus with CFS.

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Tejerina, M.R., Cabana, M.J., Enríquez, P.A. et al. Bacterial Strains Isolated from Stingless Bee Workers Inhibit the Growth of Apis mellifera Pathogens. Curr Microbiol 81, 106 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-024-03618-8

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