Honey bee gut microbiome profile changes with pesticide exposure in colonies and cages

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

3:06 PM – 3:18 PM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 206

Presenting Author(s)

Thomas Deckers (he/him/his)

Student Research Technician
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Beaverlodge, Alberta, Canada

Co-Author(s)

LT

Lan Tran

Post-doctoral Researcher
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Sidney, British Columbia, Canada
JH

Jonathan Ho

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Beaverlodge, Alberta, Canada
LL

Lance Lansing

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Morgan M. Cunningham (he/him/his)

Student
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Ernesto Guzman (he/him/his)

Professor
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
AZ

Amro Zayed

York University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
LF

Leonard Foster

Principal Investigator
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Rodrigo Ortega Polo

Biology Study Leader - Bioinformatics
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Marta Guarna

Research Scientist
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Globally, farmers use over 4 million tonnes of agrochemicals each year with over 80% of this usage occurring in Asia and the Americas. The increased use of pesticides is of significant concern due to their ecological harm and their effect on pollinators. The influence of pesticides on the health of pollinators, which is affected by the stability of their microbiome, is a focus of evolving research. In this study, we performed colony and cage experiments to determine the impact of the neonicotinoid insecticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam on the gut microbiome profile of the European honey bee (Apis mellifera). As part of the BeeCSI project, we exposed honey bees to i) a long-term chronic treatment in colonies using a field realistic dose, and ii) a short-term treatment in a laboratory cage setting to test a sub-lethal dose and a dose equal to the LD50. We used shotgun metagenomics sequencing to profile the microbiome of the experimental bees to determine the taxonomic composition of the bee gut microbiome. We will report results for each experimental condition as well as data on the dysbiosis resulting from the clothianidin treatment, including an increase in Bifidobacterium spp. We will also discuss the use of microbiome profile changes as a diagnostic signature of pesticide exposure to guide stakeholders, including beekeepers, crop growers and policy makers towards reducing the impact of agrochemicals on environmental landscapes and pollinators.