ArticlePLoS biology2024
An engineered bacterial symbiont allows noninvasive biosensing of the honey bee gut environment.
Article in PLoS biology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- An engineered bacterial symbiont maps micron-scale sugar gradients in the honeybee gut.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Symbiont-Mediated Detoxification of Xenobiotics in Honey Bees.Microbial biotechnology · 2026Review
- Proof-of-concept engineering of Escherichia coli expressing a bee-derived cytochrome P450 monooxygenase for thiamethoxam detoxification.Journal of biological engineering · 2026Article
- A non-invasive method for profiling the gut microbiome and virome of honey bee queens.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Evolution, multifunctionality, and agricultural potential of insect microbiomes and the holobiont concept.The ISME journal · 2026Review
- Host and microbial factors influence bacterial colonization of the honey bee gut.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- How many plasmids can bacteria carry? A synthetic biology perspective.Open biology · 2025Review
- Host specificity of gut microbiota associated with social bees: patterns and processes.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- Deciphering microbial spatial organization: insights from synthetic and engineered communities.ISME communications · 2025Review
- Article
- Article
- Engineering Gut Symbionts: A Way to Promote Bee Growth?Insects · 2024Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The honey bee is a powerful model system to probe host-gut microbiota interactions, and an important pollinator species for natural ecosystems and for agriculture. While bacterial biosensors can provide critical insight into the complex interplay occurring between a host and its associated microbiota, the lack of methods to noninvasively sample the gut content, and the limited genetic tools to engineer symbionts, have so far hindered their development in honey bees. Here, we built a versatile molecular tool kit to genetically modify symbionts and reported for the first time in the honey bee a technique to sample their feces. We reprogrammed the native bee gut bacterium Snodgrassella alvi as a biosensor for IPTG, with engineered cells that stably colonize the gut of honey bees and report exposure to the molecules in a dose-dependent manner through the expression of a fluorescent protein. We showed that fluorescence readout can be measured in the gut tissues or noninvasively in the feces. These tools and techniques will enable rapid building of engineered bacteria to answer fundamental questions in host-gut microbiota research.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.