Location: Vegetable Crops Research
Project Number: 5090-21220-007-018-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2020
End Date: Aug 31, 2023
Objective:
Investigate the microbe-mediated changes in bee pollen-provision chemistry over time.
Approach:
To investigate microbe-driven changes in pollen provisions, we will sample sterile and microbial-inoculated pollen provisions over time and document changes in (1) microbial community (using RNA-seq, as outlined above), and (2) metabolite concentrations using untargeted metabolomics. Once the microbial community identity has been characterized, the functional roles of the microbes can be assayed. Metabolomic analyses will be used to elucidate the emergent impacts of microbial activities (i.e., the metabolic products of their activities) on the development of the microbial community, itself, as well as the impacts on the growth of bee larvae.
