Summary

Pollinating insects are key to the evolutionary and ecological success of flowering plants and enable much of the diversity in the human diet. Gut microbial communities likely impact pollinators in diverse ways, from nutrition to defense against disease. Honeybees and bumblebees harbor a simple yet specialized gut microbiota dominated by several newly described bacterial species, including Gilliamella apicola, Frischella perrara,Snodgrassella alvi and specialized species of Lactobacillus. These bacterial groups are absent from the guts of other bees studied to date.

This work has been published online on Current Biology, Volume 25, Issue 15, 3 August 2015, Pages R652–R653.

More details are available on the link below: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982215007253