Isolation and characterization of bifidobacteria from the carpenter bee (Xylocopa violacea)digestive tract. XylocopaViolacea

This study focused on the isolation and characterization of bifidobacterial strains from carpenter bee (Xylocopa violacea. In spring 2016, worker carpenter bees were collected in Spilamberto (Modena, Italy)and transferred to the laboratory. All bees where anesthetized and their gut content was extracted, weighted, serially diluted and plated on Tryptone, Phytone, and Yeast extract (TPY) agar medium supplemented with mupirocin (200 mgL-1). Plates were incubated 5 days at 35 °C, in both anaerobic and microaerophilic atmosphere. Morphologically different colonies where randomly picked and re-streaked on the same agar medium and purity checked prior to further analysis. A total of thirty-three isolates where obtained from Xylocopa violacea. Two novel species have been isolated. The newly isolated strains, referred to as XV2 and XV10, are gram-positive, non-spore-forming, lactate- and acetate-producing.