Characterization of the unexplored microbial community of propolis

The knowledge of microbial communities inhabiting the integral components of the honey bee hive system is essential to understand their contribute to the overall hive health. Despite the deep knowledge on the honey bee gut microbiome, microbial communities of other hive components are still poor known. Propolis originates from a natural resinous mixture that honeybees collect from different plants sources and modify. By virtue of its antimicrobial properties, the main role of propolis is in the hygiene of the hive. Propolis has been considered relatively aseptic and as a result almost completely neglected from the point of view of its microbial community.In this project we aim at describing the diversity of the microbial community of propolis by both cultivation and targeted-metagenomics analysis.