{"doi":"10.1111/1462-2920.13973","title":"Large‐scale cultivation of the bumblebee gut microbiota reveals an underestimated bacterial species diversity capable of pathogen inhibition","abstract":"<jats:title>Summary</jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    A total of 1940 isolates from gut samples of 60 bumblebees representing\n                    <jats:italic>Bombus pascuorum</jats:italic>\n                    ,\n                    <jats:italic>Bombus terrestris, Bombus lucorum</jats:italic>\n                    and\n                    <jats:italic>Bombus lapidarius</jats:italic>\n                    was collected and identified through state‐of the‐art taxonomic methods. The bacterial species diversity in these\n                    <jats:italic>Bombus</jats:italic>\n                    species exceeded that suggested by phylotype analysis through 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, and revealed that\n                    <jats:italic>B. pascuorum</jats:italic>\n                    and\n                    <jats:italic>B. terrestris</jats:italic>\n                    had a unique microbiota composition, each. Representatives of most phylotypes reported earlier and detected in the present study were effectively isolated, and included several novel bacterial taxa and species reported for the first time in the bumblebee gut. Isolates were screened in pectin degradation assays and growth inhibition assays against the honeybee pathogens\n                    <jats:italic>Paenibacillus larvae</jats:italic>\n                    ,\n                    <jats:italic>Melissococcus plutonius</jats:italic>\n                    and\n                    <jats:italic>Ascosphaera apis</jats:italic>\n                    and the bumblebee parasite\n                    <jats:italic>Crithidia bombi</jats:italic>\n                    . While inhibitory activity against each of these pathogens was observed, only one single culture was able to degrade pectin and polygalacturonic acid\n                    <jats:italic>in vitro</jats:italic>\n                    . The availability of accurately identified microbial isolates will facilitate future evaluation of the functional potential of the bumblebee gut microbiota.\n                  </jats:p>","journal":"Environmental Microbiology","year":2018,"id":17505,"datarank":1.8941290071428163,"base_score":4.174387269895637,"endowment":4.174387269895637,"self_citation_contribution":0.6261580904843456,"citation_network_contribution":1.2679709166584707,"self_endowment_contribution":0.6261580904843456,"citer_contribution":1.2679709166584707,"corpus_percentile":88.81411000232072,"corpus_rank":1447,"citation_count":64,"citer_count":50,"citers_with_citation_signal":43,"citers_with_endowment":43,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":true,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":125004,"name":"Anneleen Parmentier","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":125005,"name":"Regula Schmid‐Hempel","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":125006,"name":"Ivan Meeus","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":125007,"name":"Guy Smagghe","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":125008,"name":"Peter Vandamme","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":125003,"name":"Jessy Praet","orcid":"0000-0002-0709-4359","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"base_score":4.174387269895637,"endowment":4.174387269895637,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"29076622","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W2767063788","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"Ghent University-Special Research Fund (BOF)","grant_id":"","title":null}],"total_grants":1,"fwci":6.7865,"citation_percentile":0.96915036,"influential_citations":2,"citation_trend":[{"year":2018,"count":7},{"year":2019,"count":8},{"year":2020,"count":12},{"year":2021,"count":7},{"year":2022,"count":6},{"year":2023,"count":10},{"year":2024,"count":5},{"year":2025,"count":9}],"oa_status":"closed","license":"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2F1462-2920.13973","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1462-2920.13973","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1462-2920.13973","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1462-2920.13973","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13973","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29076622","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8548900","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8540742","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["Insect and Pesticide Research","Plant and animal studies","Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences","Biology","Medicine","Environmental Science","Animals","Bacteria","Bees","Biological Control Agents","Crithidia","Gastrointestinal Microbiome","Paenibacillus larvae","Pectins","RNA, Ribosomal, 16S"],"mesh_terms":["Gastrointestinal Microbiome","Paenibacillus larvae","Animals","Bacteria","Bees","Crithidia","Pectins","RNA, Ribosomal, 16S","Biological Control Agents"],"keywords":["Biology","Bumblebee","Bombus terrestris","Phylotype","16S ribosomal RNA","Zoology","Gut flora","Pollinator","Microbiology","Botany","Bacteria","Genetics","Pollination"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Life in Land"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-06-02T19:11:15.869801Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}