Reconstruction of gut microbiota to understand host-microbe interactios influencing physiology and behavior of honey bees

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K22295
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 38:Agricultural chemistry and related fields
• Research Institution: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
• Principal Investigator: Miyazaki Ryo 国立研究開発法人産業技術総合研究所, 生命工学領域, 研究グループ長 (80712489)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-06-28 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 腸内細菌叢 / 社会性昆虫 / ミツバチ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We artificially reconstructed the gut microbiota of honey bees with all possible combinations of microbes and analyzed their effects on the longevity and gustatory responsiveness of the host. We found that the presence of gut bacteria is in itself a cost for individual honey bees. This result is similar to those of studies using sterile mice and may be a common feature of living organisms. On the other hand, we also found that certain combinations of gut bacteria had a positive effect on the lifespan of honey bees, suggesting that interactions among gut bacteria are important to the host. In addition, the gustatory response of honey bees after 2-5h of starvation was unrelated to the presence of gut microbiota.

Free Research Field

微生物生態学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

保有する腸内細菌が全て培養でき、腸内細菌のあらゆる組合せで宿主への影響を評価できるミツバチを用いることで、個々の腸内細菌の機能だけでなく、腸内細菌同士の相互作用がもたらす効果を実験的かつ網羅的に解析できることを、本研究によって示すことができた。これはミツバチが腸内細菌叢研究の新しいモデルとして有用であることを示している。本研究成果は国内学会等の招待講演で発表し、複数の論文執筆の最終段階にある。また、社会性昆虫の腸内細菌叢について国際専門誌から総説執筆依頼を受けて発表しており、国内外の注目度も高い。