Solitary_bees_Buenos_Aires_province

Description

Buenos Aires province is one of the most important areas for farming in Argentina. In there more than 90 wild and managed bees were characterized, being Xylocopa augusti, Eucera fervens and different species of Lasioglossum the solitary bees most commonly found. This work aimed at the characterization of the gut microbiome of these species but also correlate the gut microbial community with the presence and intensity of different pathogens and different land uses. Solitary bees were sampled in three study sites with contrasting land uses. The DNA was extracted from the gut, amplified for the 16S rRNA gene and sequenced on an Illumina MiSeq. Simultaneously the samples were qPCR tested for ten pathogens known for spillover from managed bees to wild ones. The results showed how analyzed solitary bees are affected by three main parasites: Nosema ceranae, Nosema bombi and Crithidia bombi. At genus level, the core microbiome varied within the different bee taxa with Pseudomonas as the major core taxa in all solitary bees analyzed. Lactobacillus, Spiroplasma and Sodalis were the second most abundant taxa in Xylocopa augusti, Eucera fervens and Lasioglossum, respectively. Minor microbial taxa were the drivers of changes in the gut microbiota composition that better correlated with pathogens presence and land use. In particular, two bacterial genera (Snodgrasella and Nocardioides) varied across the land use and presented higher abundances in the less impacted areas whereas Bifidobacterium, Apibacter, Serratia, Snodgrassella and Sodalis abundance correlated with the detected pathogens load. The perspective of this study is relevant because it is the first to analyze the links between land use changes and parasite assemblage with the microbial community of solitary native bee from Argentina.

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