Abstract Background In the honeybee Apis mellifera, the bacterial gut community is
consistently colonized by eight distinct phylotypes of bacteria. Managed bee colonies are of …

The honey bee, Apis mellifera, harbors a characteristic gut microbiota composed of only a
few species which seem to be specific to social bees. The maintenance of this stable and …

Specialized relationships with bacteria often allow animals to exploit a new diet by providing
a novel set of metabolic capabilities. Bees are a monophyletic group of Hymenoptera that …

Microbial communities in animal guts are composed of diverse, specialized bacterial
species, but little is known about how gut bacteria diversify to produce genetically and …

Most bacterial species encompass strains with vastly different gene content. Strain diversity
in microbial communities is therefore considered to be of functional importance. Yet little is …

Introduction The functional relevance of intra-species diversity in natural microbial
communities remains largely unexplored. The guts of two closely related honey bee species …

Animals living in social communities typically harbor a characteristic gut microbiota
important for nutrition and pathogen defense. Accordingly, in the gut of the honey bee, Apis …

Social honey bees, Apis mellifera, host a set of distinct microbiota, which is similar across
the continents and various honey bee species. Some of these bacteria, such as lactobacilli …

Highlights•Honey bee adult workers contain characteristic communities of bacteria in their
guts.•Eight main species clusters are acquired within hives by new adults and colonize …

Interactions with microbes affect many aspects of animal biology, including immune system
development, nutrition and health. In vertebrates, the gut microbiota is dominated by a small …