Data_Sheet_1_The Pass-on Effect of Tetracycline-Induced Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Gut Community Dysbiosis.docx

Gut microbial community plays an important role in the regulation of insect health. Antibiotic treatment is powerful to fight bacterial infections, while it also causes collateral damage to gut microbiome, which may have long-lasting consequences for host health. However, current studies on honey bees mainly focus on the impact of direct exposure to antibiotics on individual bees, and little is known about the impact of social transmission of antibiotic-induced gut community disorder in honey bee colonies. In order to provide insight into the potential pass-on effect of antibiotic-induced dysbiosis, we colonized newly emerged germ-free workers with either normal or tetracycline-treated gut community and analyzed the gut bacteria composition. We also treated workers with low dosage of tetracycline to evaluate its impact on honey bee gut microbiota. Our results showed that the tetracycline-treated gut community caused disruption of gut community in their receivers, while the direct exposure to the low dosage of tetracycline had no significant effect. In addition, no significant difference was observed on the mortality rate of A. mellifera workers with different treatments. These results suggest that though the residue of antibiotic treatment may not have direct effect on honey bee gut community, the gut microbiota dysbiosis caused by high dosage of antibiotic treatment has a cascade effect on the gut community of the nestmates in honeybee colonies.

肠道微生物群落对于昆虫健康调节发挥着至关重要的作用。抗生素治疗虽能有效对抗细菌感染，却不可避免地对肠道菌群造成附带损害，这可能会对宿主的长期健康产生深远影响。然而，当前针对蜜蜂的研究主要集中于抗生素直接暴露对单只蜜蜂的影响，而对抗生素诱导的肠道菌群失调在社会传播中蜜蜂群体中的影响所知甚少。为了探究抗生素诱导的菌群失调的潜在传递效应，本研究通过将正常或四环素处理的肠道菌群移植至新出现的无菌工蜂体内，分析了肠道细菌组成。此外，我们还对工蜂进行了低剂量四环素处理，以评估其对蜜蜂肠道菌群的影响。研究结果显示，四环素处理的肠道菌群对其接收者肠道菌群造成了扰乱，而直接暴露于低剂量四环素并未产生显著影响。另外，不同处理方法对 A. mellifera 工蜂的死亡率没有观察到显著差异。这些结果提示，尽管抗生素治疗的残留可能对蜜蜂肠道菌群没有直接效应，但高剂量抗生素治疗引起的肠道菌群失调对蜂群中巢居蜜蜂的肠道菌群产生了级联效应。