16s Honey Bee Queen: Mouthparts, Midgut, Ileum & Rectum

Here we test the hypothesis that lifespan differences in a social insect model are associated with age-based microbial succession. We sample known age queens from different backgrounds and formally compare our findings to the extensive preexisting characterization of known age workers. We define the aging queen microbiota by deep sequencing four alimentary tract niches that differ in many ways including physiological function, pH, and oxygen exposure. To accompany each amplicon library, we determine the absolute numbers of bacteria with qPCR.