The weird world of pathogens, microbes, and meat-eating bees

Flowers are more than just a source of food for bees; they can also act as hubs of microbial transmission. Some of these microbes can spillover from social bees into solitary species and move through plant-pollinator networks, while others have more restricted host ranges. We use a combination of fieldwork, laboratory assays, molecular ecology, and genomics to understand the evolution and ecology of these microbes. In this talk I will discuss how plant-pollinator networks can help us understand relationships between bee hosts and pathogens and other microbes. I will then explore the evolution of pathogenicity in the fungal genus Ascosphaera. While Ascosphaera is best known as the causative agent of chalkbrood disease, the genus is ancestrally commensal and pathogenicity has evolved independently several times. I will finish by discussing the microbiomes of bees that have reverted to a carnivorous lifestyle – the so-called “vulture bees”. Our ultimate goal is to leverage these symbionts to improve bee health, and we are just beginning to understand many of these weird and wonderful relationships.