Data from: Social behavior in bees influences the abundance of Sodalis (Enterobacteriaceae) symbionts

Social interactions can facilitate transmission of microbes between
individuals, reducing variation in gut communities within social groups.
Thus, the evolution of social behaviors and symbiont community composition
have the potential to be tightly linked. We explored this connection by
characterizing the diversity of bacteria associated with both eusocial and
solitary bee species within the behaviorally variable family Halictidae
using 16S amplicon sequencing. Contrary to expectations, we found few
differences in bacterial abundance or variation between social forms; most
halictid species appear to share similar gut bacterial communities.
However, several strains of Sodalis, a genus described as a symbiont in a
variety of insects but yet to be characterized in bees, differ in
abundance between eusocial and solitary bees. Phylogenetic reconstructions
based on whole-genome alignments indicate that Sodalis has independently
colonized halictids at least three times. These strains appear to be
mutually exclusive within individual bees, although they are not
host-species-specific and no signatures of vertical transmission were
observed, suggesting that Sodalis strains compete for access to hosts. The
symbiosis between halictids and Sodalis therefore appears to be in its
early stages.