A Metagenomic Analysis of the Honey Bee Gut Microbiome Following Oral Imidacloprid Exposure

Abstract

Thought to play a significant role in their health, the intestinal microbiota of honey bees is a growing subject of interest. Imidacloprid, one of the highest selling insecticides worldwide, is transferred to the nectar and pollen of treated plants and therefore is likely to be ingested by foraging workers. Little is known about the effects of imidacloprid (and pesticides in general) on bee microbiota. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that exposure to the pesticide imidacloprid alters the community structure of commensal bacteria in the honey bee (Apis mellifera) gut. Workers were kept in captivity and fed a sucrose solution containing imidacloprid at 5 μg/L, a field realistic dose. The relative abundance of bacterial taxa in the gut was determined using MiSeq. Oral imidacloprid exposure did not appear to impact the community structure of the honey bee gut microbiome.