Functional Diversity Within the Simple Gut Microbiota of the Honey Bee
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Functional diversity within the simple gut microbiota of the honey bee Philipp Engela,1, Vincent G. Martinsonb, and Nancy A. Morana,1 aDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520; and bCenter for Insect Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 Edited by Gene E. Robinson, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, IL, and approved May 21, 2012 (received for review February 27, 2012) Animals living in social communities typically harbor a characteristic related γ-proteobacteria, one with the Candidatus name “Gillia- gut microbiota important for nutrition and pathogen defense. Ac- mella apicola,” and two α-proteobacteria) (12). Recent deep se- cordingly, in the gut of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, a distinctive quencing of 16S rRNA amplicons from guts of individual worker microbial community, composed of a taxonomically restricted set of bees has confirmed these results and has further shown that these species specific to social bees, has been identified. Despite the eco- species make up more than 99% of all bacterial sequences logical and economical importance of honey bees and the increasing detected in the worker bees’ intestines and that the β-proteo- concern about population declines, the role of their gut symbionts bacterium (hereafter, Snodgrassella both γ-proteobacteria, and for colony health and nutrition is unknown. Here, we sequenced the both Lactobacilli are present in every bee (13). The consistent metagenome of the gut microbiota of honey bees. Unexpectedly, occurrence of these particular species and their deep phylogenetic we found a remarkable degree of genetic diversity within the few divergence from other known bacteria suggests coevolution and bacterial species colonizing the bee gut. Comparative analysis of mutualistic interactions with their hosts. Indeed, in a European gene contents suggests that different species harbor distinct func- Bombus species, it was recently shown that the gut microbiota is tional capabilities linked to host interaction, biofilm formation, and transmitted via feces and protects against the intestinal trypano- carbohydrate breakdown. Whereas the former two functions could somatid pathogen Crithidia bombi (14). In addition to defending be critical for pathogen defense and immunity, the latter one might against pathogens, the gut microbiota might be involved in nutri- assist nutrient utilization. In a γ-proteobacterial species, we identi- tional processes such as breakdown and utilization of pollen grains fied genes encoding pectin-degrading enzymes likely involved in the or degradation of toxic compounds encountered in the environ- breakdown of pollen walls. Experimental investigation showed that ment (15, 16). this activity is restricted to a subset of strains of this species pro- Analyses of 16S rRNA sequences are useful for characterizing viding evidence for niche specialization. Long-standing association species composition but provide little information about metabolic of these gut symbionts with their hosts, favored by the eusocial capabilities of these species. Although a 16S rRNA sequence can lifestyle of honey bees, might have promoted the genetic and func- indicate a close phylogenetic relationship to organisms for which fi fi tional diversi cation of these bee-speci c bacteria. Besides reveal- physiology has been characterized, even closely related species can ing insights into mutualistic functions governed by the microbiota of display massive differences in functional gene content, due to the fi this important pollinator, our ndings indicate that the honey bee dynamic nature of bacterial genomes. For example, strains of can serve as a model for understanding more complex gut-associ- Escherichia coli differ by <1% in 16S rRNA sequences but have ated microbial communities. very different gene sets and effects on host organisms. In extending beyond 16S rRNA analyses, a first picture of metabolic and symbiosis | coevolution | pectin degradation | Gilliamella | Snodgrassella functional capabilities can be revealed from genomic sequences, which enable reconstruction of pathways and functions with strong s a pollinator, the honey bee, Apis mellifera, is a key species predictive value. Such information from genome sequences pro- Afor agricultural production and contributes significantly to vides a rich set of candidate genes and processes for experimental the human food supply (1, 2). Recent losses of A. mellifera and tests of functions. bumble bees (genus Bombus), and the potential association of Here, we report analyses of the metagenomic sequence of the these declines with various infectious agents, call for a better resident gut microbiota of A. mellifera. Our results confirm the understanding of the bees’ microbiota (3, 4). In many animals, the simple composition of the microbiota on the species level, but we gut microbial community, in particular, confers functions related discovered extensive strain-level diversity within each of the bacte- to nutrition and susceptibility to disease and thus might also play rial species present. Annotation and pathway reconstruction based an important role in the health and resilience of honey bees. on the metagenomic gene content suggest that specificfunctions Honey bees pool resources, divide labor, and communicate in related to host interactions, digestion, and defense are associated highly structured social colonies (5). Sterile female worker bees with particular bacterial species or with strains within species. We predominate within colonies in which they initially clean cells, investigated experimentally one such potential function, that of rear brood, and store food, then leave the hive, and forage for pectin degradation, an activity presumably involved in breakdown of pollen and nectar (5). Diet and nutrition also shift as workers age (6, 7), but throughout the life cycle, pollen represents the only dietary source of fat and amino acids (8). Author contributions: P.E., V.G.M., and N.A.M. designed research; P.E. and V.G.M. per- Independent studies of bacterial community profiles based on formed research; P.E. analyzed data; and P.E. and N.A.M. wrote the paper. 16S rRNA sequences show that workers of A. mellifera and some The authors declare no conflict of interest. Bombus species consistently harbor a distinctive gut microbiota This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. not shared with solitary bees (9–11). This microbiota consists of Data deposition: The 16S rRNA gene sequences reported in this paper are deposited in eight distinct species or phylotypes (i.e., closely related strains the GenBank database (accession nos. JQ673232–JQ673261; and the metagenome depos- ≥ ited in the Integrated Microbial Genomes with Microbiome Samples (IMG/M), http://img. with 97% sequence identity in 16S rRNA sequences, hereafter jgi.doe.gov/cgi-bin/m/main.cgi (project ID 2498). referred to as species): three Gram-positive species (two closely 1 To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: [email protected] or nancy. related Firmicutes within Lactobacillus and one within Bifido- [email protected]. fi β bacterium) and ve Gram-negative species (one -proteobacte- This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10. rium with the Candidatus name “Snodgrassella alvi,” two closely 1073/pnas.1202970109/-/DCSupplemental. 11002–11007 | PNAS | July 3, 2012 | vol. 109 | no. 27 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1202970109 Downloaded by guest on September 29, 2021 pollen walls. Our experiments demonstrate that differences in gene Bacteroidetes, probably from a species previously detected in both content within species result in differences in functional capabilities honey bee and Bombus guts (Fig. 1B, SI Appendix,Fig.S1B) (10, that are expected to affect host ecology. 17). Because of the very low representation of this lineage (in- dicated by small contigs and shallow read coverage) we did not Results and Discussion include it in subsequent analyses. Metagenomic Sequencing and Strain Variation in Species of the Gut To analyze gene contents specific to a given species or species Microbiota of Honey Bees. De novo assembly of 81,343,096 paired- group, we assigned scaffolds to the six different phylogenetic end reads resulted in 54,700 scaffolds of contigs with a total length clusters shown in Fig. 1C, using a combination of homology- and of 76.6 Mb (SI Appendix, Table S1). Annotation of the gene con- nucleotide composition-based binning methods (SI Appendix, Ta- tent predicted 112,128 protein-coding sequences (CDSs). Analyses ble S1). We then assessed the completeness of the genomic content of the overall community profile indicated that the metagenome is for each of these bins by determining the presence of a minimal set dominated by sequences from α-, β-, γ-proteobacteria, Lactoba- of essential (mostly single-copy) genes (18). Except for the Bifido cillus (Firmicutes), and Bifidobacterium (Actinobacteria) (Fig. 1 A cluster, we identified full-length homologs for ≥85% of these gene and B). Reads corresponding to 16S rRNA genes verified that the sets in all bins, and even genes scored as missing were usually eight typical species previously detected in honey bees (9, 11–13) present as gene fragments. Thus, each bin contained sequences were all present and dominated the gut community. Phylogenies representing nearly complete genomic contents for the corre- inferred from eight conserved, single copy marker genes (Fig. 1C sponding species or species group (Fig. 1D), implying nearly and