Hidden Microbiota Inhabiting in Pollen Reserves of Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) From Amazonas Region Revealed by DNA Metabarcoding
Jessica C. Llaja, Johann E. Oyola, Jois V. Carrion, Fernando Chuquizuta, Martha S. Calderon, Danilo E. Bustamante · 2026
Read Hidden Microbiota Inhabiting in Pollen Reserves of Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) From Amazonas Region Revealed by DNA Metabarcoding by Jessica C. Llaja, Johann E. Oyola, Jois V. Carrion, Fernando Chuquizuta, Martha S. Calderon, Danilo E. Bustamante (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13392498.txt.
Description
Jessica C. Llaja and co-authors catalogue the microbes living in honey bee pollen reserves across the Amazonas region of Peru. Pollen stores feed the hive and host microbes important for bee nutrition and health, yet neotropical reserves were largely unstudied. Their 2026 study uses DNA metabarcoding of bacterial and fungal marker genes across six ecosystems.
Ecosystem type was the main driver of community structure, while bacteria and fungi responded differently to environmental change. Few microbes were shared across all sites, yet the community's functions stayed stable, centred on nutrient metabolism by bacteria and nutrient-cycling fungi. A Lactobacillus bacterium and an unclassified yeast-like fungus dominated but varied with the diversity of flowers available. The simplified palm swamp ecosystem had significantly reduced microbial diversity. The authors conclude the reserve microbiome is taxonomically flexible but functionally steady, shaped by environmental filtering and bee behaviour.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Jessica C. Llaja, Johann E. Oyola, Jois V. Carrion, Fernando Chuquizuta, Martha S. Calderon, Danilo E. Bustamante |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 55 KB |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |