A potential probiotic Leuconostoc mesenteroides TBE-8 for honey bee

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 18466
• Main Authors: Huang, Yu-Han, Chen, Yu-Hsin, Chen, Jui-Hung, Hsu, Pei-Shou, Wu, Tzu-Hsien, Lin, Chuen-Fu, Peng, Chi-Chung, Wu, Ming-Cheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 16.09.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/326; 631/337; Animals; Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides - genetics; Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides - metabolism; Bees; Bees - metabolism; Bees - microbiology; Carbohydrate Metabolism; Carbohydrates; Colonies; Disease Resistance; Fermented food; Glycoproteins - genetics; Glycoproteins - metabolism; Humanities and Social Sciences; Insect Proteins - genetics; Insect Proteins - metabolism; Larvae; Leuconostoc mesenteroides; Leuconostoc mesenteroides - genetics; Leuconostoc mesenteroides - pathogenicity; multidisciplinary; Osmotic pressure; Paenibacillus larvae - pathogenicity; Peptides; Probiotics; Protein folding; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; Royal jelly; rRNA 16S; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Spacer region; Sucrose; Vitellogenin; Vitellogenins - genetics; Vitellogenins - metabolism
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-97950-9

An isolated bacterium TBE-8, was identified as Leuconostoc mesenteroides according to the sequences of 16S rDNA and the 16S–23S rDNA intergenic spacer region. The probiotic properties of the L. mesenteroides TBE-8 strain were characterized and revealed that TBE-8 could utilize various carbohydrates, exhibited high tolerance to sucrose’s osmotic pressure and acidic conditions, and could mitigate the impact of the bee pathogen Paenibacillus larvae . In addition, we found that the TBE-8 broth increased the expression of the nutrition-related genes major royal jelly protein 1 and vitellogenin in bees by approximately 1400- and 20-fold, respectively. The expression of genes encoding two antibacterial peptides, hymenoptaecin and apidaecin, in the bee abdomen was significantly increased by 17- and 7-fold in bees fed with the TBE-8 fermented broth. Furthermore, we fed four-frame bee colonies with 50% sucrose syrup containing TBE-8 and can detect the presence of approximately 2 × 10 6 16S rDNA copies of TBE-8 in the guts of all bees in 24 h, and the retention of TBE-8 in the bee gut for at least 5 days. These findings indicate that the L. mesenteroides TBE-8 has high potential as a bee probiotic and could enhance the health of bee colonies.