Impact of antibiotics and natural feed additives on the microbial community of the honeybee

The honeybee gut is an ecological niche that has only recently been explored with advanced molecular techniques. It is known that the intestinal microbiota in honeybees is relatively simple and stable, to the extent that the greatest variations in its composition, post perturbations, are found in the proportions of some core microbial groups, rather than in the presence or absence of specific microbial taxa. Lately, numerous researches on livestock have shown the negative effects of antibiotics on the intestinal microbiota, filling a knowledge gap in the microbiology research. The present project aims at contributing to an improvement of knowledge on antibiotic and bio-products medicaments on the gut microbiota of honeybees through comparing the impact of three Antibiotics and 3 Bio-products administration.

蜜蜂肠道作为一类生态位（ecological niche），直至近年才借助先进分子技术得到相关研究与解析。现有研究表明，蜜蜂肠道菌群（intestinal microbiota）结构相对简单且稳定：其组成在受到扰动后产生的最大变化，体现为部分核心微生物类群的占比波动，而非特定微生物类群的存在或缺失。近期诸多针对家畜的研究已证实抗生素会对肠道菌群产生负面影响，填补了微生物学研究领域的一处知识空白。本项目旨在通过对比三种抗生素与三种生物制剂的施用对蜜蜂肠道菌群的影响，深化人们对抗生素及生物制剂类药物如何作用于蜜蜂肠道菌群的认知。