Pathogenicity of aerobic bacteria isolated from honeybees (Apis mellifera) in Ordu Province

Abstract

The honeybee (Apis mellifera) is an important pollinator insect. Any pathogenic infection in this beneficial insect isundesirable. In this study, bacterial diversity in beehives was investigated to determine the potential of pathogenic bacteria in honeybees.To do this, bacterial isolations were carried out from dead and diseased adult bees collected from 9 districts in Ordu Province inTurkey.Twenty species of pathogenic bacteria, 18 of which were nonsporeforming Staphylococcus lentus, Klebsiella oxytoca, Citrobacterfreundii, Leucanostoc mesenteroides ssp. cremoris, Kocuria rosea, Kocuria kristinae, Sphingomonas paucimobilis slashline, Burkholderiacepacia, Leucanostoc mesenteroides ssp. dextranicum,Hafnia alvei, Escherichia coli, Aeromonas salmonicida, Citrobacter braakii, Pantoeaagglomerans, Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus, Staphylococcus pseudintermedius, Staphylococcus lugdunesis and Staphylococcusvitulinus and 2 sporeforming Bacillus licheniformis and Paenibacillus polymyxa, were isolated and identified from the honeybees. Theinfectivity of these bacteria were also documented with bioassay experiments on the healthy bees.The highest insecticidal effectwasdeterminedwith Bacillus licheniformis (84%), Escherichia coli (84%), and Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus (80%) on the adulthoneybees.This result confirms that the honeybee contains a very large number of bacterial species and that the majority of them arepathogenic for the species in Turkey. In addition, some of the entomopathogenic bacteria used for biological control can have negativeimpact on this economically important insect.