Novel eDNA approaches to monitor Western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) microbial and arthropod communities

Pests and pathogens are a continuous threat to the health of Western honey bee Apis mellifera L. Monitoring honey bee colonies for arthropod pests, disease-causing bacteria and fungi, and early detection of new invasions is essential to maintain the pollination services provided by honey bees. We investigated the feasibility of using eDNA metabarcoding to detect honey bee pests and pathogens in their hives and across their foraging environment. We sampled 13 different sample sources of eDNA within and outside hives from our test apiary to determine where the most informative eDNA could be obtained, with most sources sampled thrice. We used DNA metabarcoding with universal primers tagged with unique dual indexes targeting arthropod (16S and COI mitochondrial genes), bacterial (16S gene) and fungal communities (16S gene). Our results showed that most sample sources yielded usable and informative DNA. Collectively, our data show that eDNA metabarcoding can accurately detect DNA from arthropods and microbes honey bees contact and can be used as a comprehensive molecular predictor tool for colony health surveys.

害虫和病原体对西方蜜蜂（Apis mellifera L.）的健康构成持续威胁。对蜜蜂群体进行监测，以识别节肢动物害虫、致病原细菌和真菌，以及对新入侵的早期发现，对于维持蜜蜂提供的授粉服务至关重要。本研究旨在探讨利用环境DNA（eDNA）元条形码技术检测蜂巢及其觅食环境中蜜蜂害虫和病原体的可行性。我们采集了测试蜂场内外的13种不同eDNA样本来源，以确定最具信息量的eDNA获取地点，其中大部分样本来源采集了三次。我们采用了DNA元条形码技术，使用标记有独特双索引的通用引物，针对节肢动物（16S和COI线粒体基因）、细菌（16S基因）和真菌群落（16S基因）进行检测。结果显示，大多数样本来源都产生了可用且信息丰富的DNA。综合我们的数据表明，eDNA元条形码技术能够准确检测蜜蜂接触的节肢动物和微生物的DNA，并可作为一种全面性的分子预测工具，用于蜂群健康状况的调查。