Estimating Broad-Sense Heritability Of The Gut Microbiome In Western Honey Bees (Apis Mellifera)

The honey bee gut microbiome, crucial for bee health, may be shaped by both environmental and genetic factors. While differences in microbiomes exist between honey bee subspecies, it is unclear if genetic variation within a population influences this variation. This study estimated the broad-sense heritability of gut microbiome traits to explore patriline effects. We analyzed 500 workers from two colonies using 16S rRNA sequencing for microbiome characterization and genotyped them at 11 microsatellite loci. Results showed that patriline genetics marginally influenced the relative abundance of dominant microbiome taxa (18% to 24%) but did not significantly impact presence/absence of bacterial taxa or alpha and beta diversity. These findings suggest that environmental factors play a more substantial role in shaping the honey bee gut microbiome, indicating that microbiome-based interventions could benefit honey bees across populations.