Variation in honey bee gut microbial diversity affected by ontogenetic stage, age and geographic location

Social honey bees, Apis mellifera, host a set of distinct microbiota, which is similar across the continents and various honey bee species. Some of these bacteria, such as lactobacilli, have been linked to immunity and defence against pathogens. Pathogen defence is crucial, particularly in larval stages, as many pathogens affect the brood. However, information on larval microbiota is conflicting. Seven developmental stages and drones were sampled from 3 colonies at each of the 4 geographic locations of A. mellifera carnica, and the samples were maintained separately for analysis. We analysed the variation and abundance of important bacterial groups and taxa in the collected bees. Major bacterial groups were evaluated over the entire life of honey bee individuals, where digestive tracts of same aged bees were sampled in the course of time. The results showed that the microbial tract of 6-day-old 5th instar larvae were nearly equally rich in total microbial counts per total digestive tract weight as foraging bees, showing a high percentage of various lactobacilli (Firmicutes) and Gilliamella apicola (Gammaproteobacteria 1). However, during pupation, microbial counts were significantly reduced but recovered quickly by 6 days post-emergence. Between emergence and day 6, imago reached the highest counts of Firmicutes and Gammaproteobacteria, which then gradually declined with bee age. Redundancy analysis conducted using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis identified bacterial species that were characteristic of each developmental stage. The results suggest that 3-day 4th instar larvae contain low microbial counts that increase 2-fold by day 6 and then decrease during pupation. Microbial succession of the imago begins soon after emergence. We found that bacterial counts do not show only yearly cycles within a colony, but vary on the individual level. Sampling and pooling adult bees or 6th day larvae may lead to high errors and variability, as both of these stages may be undergoing dynamic succession

Multi-Robot Organisms: State of the Art

This paper represents the state of the art development on the field of artificial multi-robot organisms. It briefly considers mechatronic development, sensor and computational equipment, software framework and introduces one of the Grand Challenges for swarm and reconfigurable robotics

Use Cases in Dataflow-Based Privacy and Trust Modeling and Analysis in Industry 4.0 Systems

Fostering efficiency of distributed supply chains in the Industry 4.0 often bases on IoT-data analysis and by means of lean- and shop oor-management. However, trust by preserving privacy is a precondition: Competing factories will not share data, if, e.g., the analysis of the data will reveal business relevant information to competitors. Our approach is enforcing privacy policies in Industry 4.0 supply chains. These are highly dynamic and therefore not manageable by \u27traditional\u27 rights-management approaches as we will stretch in a literature analysis. To enforce privacy, we analyze two industrial settings and derive general requirements: (1) Lean- and shop oor-management and (2) factory access control, both common in Industry 4.0 supply chains. We further propose a reference architecture for Industry 4.0 supply chains. We introduce the combination of Palladio Component Model (PCM) [23] and Ensembles [4] in order to analyze and enforce privacy policies in highly dynamic environments. Our novel approach paves way for data sharing and global data analyzes in highly dynamic Industry 4.0 supply chains. It is an important step for efficiency of these supply chains and therefore one important cornerstone for the success of Industry 4.0

Reply to the Letter to the Editor by Paul O. Sheridan, Sylvia H. Duncan, Alan W. Walker, Karen P. Scott, Petra Louis and Harry J. Flint, referring to our paper ‘Reclassification of Eubacterium rectale (Prévot et al. 1967) in a new genus Agathobacter gen. nov., as Agathobacter rectalis comb. nov., within the family Lachnospiraceae, and description of Agathobacter ruminis sp. nov., from the rumen’, Int J Syst Evol Microbiol, DOI 10.1099/ijsem.0.000788

No abstract available

Reply to the Letter to the Editor by Paul O. Sheridan, Sylvia H. Duncan, Alan W. Walker, Karen P. Scott, Petra Louis and Harry J. Flint, referring to our paper ‘Reclassification of Eubacterium rectale (Prévot et al. 1967) in a new genus Agathobacter gen. nov., as Agathobacter rectalis comb. nov., within the family Lachnospiraceae, and description of Agathobacter ruminis sp. nov., from the rumen’, Int J Syst Evol Microbiol, DOI 10.1099/ijsem.0.000788

No abstract available

Effect of Selected Stilbenoids on Human Fecal Microbiota

Dietary phenolics or polyphenols are mostly metabolized by the human gut microbiota. These metabolites appear to confer the beneficial health effects attributed to phenolics. Microbial composition affects the type of metabolites produced. Reciprocally, phenolics modulate microbial composition. Understanding this relationship could be used to positively impact health by phenolic supplementation and thus create favorable colonic conditions. This study explored the effect of six stilbenoids (batatasin III, oxyresveratrol, piceatannol, pinostilbene, resveratrol, thunalbene) on the gut microbiota composition. Stilbenoids were anaerobically fermented with fecal bacteria from four donors, samples were collected at 0 and 24 h, and effects on the microbiota were assessed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Statistical tests identified affected microbes at three taxonomic levels. Observed microbial composition modulation by stilbenoids included a decrease in the Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio, a decrease in the relative abundance of strains from the genus Clostridium, and effects on the family Lachnospiraceae. A frequently observed effect was a further decrease of the relative abundance when compared to the control. An opposite effect to the control was observed for Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, whose relative abundance increased. Observed effects were more frequently attributed to resveratrol and piceatannol, followed by thunalbene and batatasin III

1H NMR Profiling of Honey Bee Bodies Revealed Metabolic Differences between Summer and Winter Bees

In temperate climates, honey bee workers of the species Apis mellifera have different lifespans depending on the seasonal phenotype: summer bees (short lifespan) and winter bees (long lifespan). Many studies have revealed the biochemical parameters involved in the lifespan differentiation of summer and winter bees. However, comprehensive information regarding the metabolic changes occurring in their bodies between the two is limited. This study used proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy to analyze the metabolic differences between summer and winter bees of the same age. The multivariate analysis showed that summer and winter bees could be distinguished based on their metabolic profiles. Among the 36 metabolites found, 28 metabolites have displayed significant changes from summer to winter bees. Compared to summer bees, trehalose in winter bees showed 1.9 times higher concentration, and all amino acids except for proline and alanine showed decreased patterns. We have also detected an unknown compound, with a CH3 singlet at 2.83 ppm, which is a potential biomarker that is about 13 times higher in summer bees. Our results show that the metabolites in summer and winter bees have distinctive characteristics; this information could provide new insights and support further studies on honey bee longevity and overwintering