Resin as an well used component of honey bee hives shows also ant

Resin as an well used component of honey bee hives shows also antimicrobial properties [22]. It has thus been suggested that honey bee pre-adults are almost sterile systems [23-25] and inoculation with intestinal bacteria selleck Cabozantinib occurs after hatching of adults [26]. However, some newer studies were able to recognize bacteria also within guts of larvae [9,11], which assembled a different community than those found in adults, referable to their alternate nutrition. There are some indications that these associations are evolutionary well conserved. Inoculation reports were made for honey-bees and also stingless bees feeding on pollen, but interestingly also for dead animal tissue collected by the necrophagic bee Trigona hypogea. It has been suggested, that this is a potentially very ancient symbiosis after a finding of bees and bacteria together enclosed in amber [27].

Beside gut bacteria and those involved in food preparation, honey bees seem to foster establishment of few other bacteria with antimicrobiotic or antimycotic capabilities within their hives [28]. Microbial associates are thus important components of a functional colony system. Despite an ancient history and conservation of symbiotic associations, we however expect differences between honey bees and solitary bees according to their social or non-social way of life. Especially offspring of solitary bees face a very different situation from hive bees, i.e. depending on pollen for their development rather than pre-manipulated jellies. Further, larvae do not develop in a constantly tended environment and are not actively supported by nurses [24,29,30].

It is thus of great importance to assess their microbial ecology and identify patterns alike or different from hive-bees. In this study we investigated whole nests including almost fully developed pupae of the red mason-bee O. bicornis through cultivation-independent next-generation sequencing to identify accompanying bacteria and their multiple possible origins. We aim to provide an initial assessment of the microbiota associated to a solitary bee nest and to gain first insights into its differences and similarities with those of honey bee hives. Methods Sampling A reed stem containing a Osmia bicornis nest with brood cells was taken from an artificial stack at a grassland site near the Biocenter of the University of W��rzburg, Germany (Latitude 49�� 46′ 47.

78, Longitude 9�� 58′ 22.55) in October 2012, few weeks before hibernation of Osmia was initiated. The experimental site was property of the University of W��rzburg and is regularly used for behavioral Cilengitide and ecological studies on Hymenoptera. The reed was split in half lengthwise and revealed four nest chambers with each an adequately developed pre-adult present and surrounded by an intact cocoon. Pupae including cocoons weighted between 90 mg and 140 mg in total.

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