16S comparison and analysis of the microbiomes of individuals from the same hive of Apis mellifera bees

Abstract: Apis Mellifera is the most abundant of the honeybee species thus making it one of the most crucial pollinators across the globe. It is a species that is in decline, it is important to understand these creatures in order to preserve its populations. The microbiome of these creatures is becoming an prominent area of research in understanding the lifecycle and development of these creatures and sustaining hive integrity. By investigating the nature of the microbiome in Apis melifera, it has begged the questions that brought about the aim of this research; are microbiome profiles conserved amongst the individuals of the same hive? If yes, to what extent is the microbiome profile shared between individuals? If variation between individuals of a hive do exist, what factors could influence this variation? The investigation required extracting the intestinal tract of many honey bees, extracting and purifying DNA, PCR to amplify the 16S rRNA regions of the bacteria within the tract and sequencing with the MinION (Oxford Nanopore Technologies).Readings of samples were compared and analyzed statistically to identify trends. Through this investigation it was found that species of bacteria were conserved almost entirely across bees yet abundance varied greatly. Despite this variation, there was a degree of grouping between abundances within samples. There certainly is a conservation of species in members of a hive, but the variation in reads of bacteria could be a result of caste, age, and season and requires further exploration.