16s rRNA Honey bee worker hindgut microbiome

The study examines the initial acquisition and subsequent dynamics of the honey bee worker hindgut bacterial microbiome, and the effects of antibiotic (tylosin) treatment on these dynamics. This study used a colony-level treatment design to preserve natural and field-realistic worker conditions including diet, exposures to nestmates, and access to the foraging environment. Tylosin was applied to whole colonies in a field-realistic manner and bees were sampled from treated and control colonies for comparison. Age-controlled workers were sampled at eight age points to provide a broad overview of microbiome development from pupal emergence to the onset of foraging, including age (in days) 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 14, 17, and 21.