我国主要传粉蜂类肠道微生物多样性及与其宿主的协同进化

Bees are the most important pollinators in the world, providing extremely important economic value. Bumblebees, honey bees (Apis cerana), leafcutting bees, stingless bees, and Osmia are widespread in China. It has been reported that the gut of honeybees harbors a large number of microbiota, but the study of bee gut microbiota has recently focused on the description of gut microbial diversity, and there still lacks information about the influence factors of formation and evolution of gut microbial diversity. This project will address the influencing factors on formation of gut microbial diversity and evolution in Chinese bees using high-throughput sequencing technologies and biological informatics analysis based on theories of metagenomics and evolutionary biology. Main research topics include: 1. The composition and distribution of the gut microbiota in bee gut microbes; 2. The influencing factors on formation of gut microbial diversity in bees; 3. The evolutionary relationship of bees and their gut microbes. Our results are expected to confirm the formation and evolution of gut microbial diversity and the coevolutionary relationship of gut microbes and its host, providing important scientific insights in solving the problem of bees decline and protecting the bee species resources diversity. These microbes plays an important role in the development of commercial bumblebees, leafcutting bees, osmia, and stingless bee colonies in China.

传粉蜂是世界上重要的授粉昆虫，具有极其重要的授粉经济价值，而我国又是熊蜂、东方蜜蜂、切叶蜂、无刺蜂、壁蜂等传粉蜂主要分布地，已报道表明蜜蜂肠道中栖息着大量微生物，但目前国内外对于传粉蜂肠道微生物的研究只局限在多样性描述等方面，仍缺乏其多样性变化的影响因素及与宿主协同进化的报道。本项目拟以宏基因组学和生物进化学理论为基础，利用高通量测序技术和生物学信息学分析方法对我国传粉蜂肠道微生物与其宿主的协同进化进行研究。研究内容包括：1）传粉蜂类肠道微生物的组成分布；2）传粉蜂类肠道微生物多样性形成的影响因素；3）传粉蜂和其肠道微生物表征的物种进化关系。预期探明我国主要传粉蜂肠道微生物多样性变化的影响因素，并深明肠道微生物与其宿主的协同进化关系。研究结果对于解决传粉蜂数量下降问题和保护蜂种资源多样性具有重要的科学意义，更重要的是对于推动蜜蜂、熊蜂、切叶蜂、壁蜂、无刺蜂等授粉产业化的发展具有重要作用。