Abstract
The gut microbiota of honey bees (Apis mellifera) can be symbiotic or pathogenic and therefore, important for bee survival and honey production. To study gut cultivable bacteria of honey bees, 30 honey bee samples were collected from district Kohat of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province as there is no information about the diversity of bee gut microbiota from Pakistan. Complete digestive system of the worker bee was dissected and processed for bacterial isolation. A total of 219 bacteria were obtained and characterized by bacterialogical parameters. The human pathogenic bacterial isolates were identified and confirmed on 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing. Combined microbiological practices revealed the presence of following bacterial genera: Bacillus, Enterococcus, Escherichia, Micrococcus, Morganella, Ochrobactrum, Pseudomonas, Salmonella, Shigella, Sphingomonas and Staphylococcus. Two pathogenic bacteria Salmonella enterica and Shigella sonnei causing diseases in man and other animals are confidently characterized. This work suggested that forager Apis mellifera gut acts as reservoir and potential vector of bacterial pathogens.