The honeybee gut microbiome: a novel multidimensional model of antimicrobial resistance transmission and immune homeostasis from environmental interactions to health regulation

Abstract The honeybee gut microbiome has emerged as a model system in microbial ecology, valued for its structural stability and host specificity, and has garnered significant attention for elucidating universal principles of host–microbe interactions. This review advocates for the honeybee as a multidisciplinary model organism, highlighting the unique role of its gut microbiota in maintaining colony immune homeostasis, driving host co-evolution, unraveling the transmission mechanisms of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and enhancing host adaptability to environmental stressors. By integrating multidimensional factors, including environmental gradients and apicultural practices, we construct an “Environment–Microbiota–Host Health” interaction framework to transcend the limitations of single-factor analyses. This framework provides a novel paradigm for the ecological containment of antimicrobial resistance, the conservation of pollinator resources, and microbiome-based engineering interventions. The review underscores the unique value of the honeybee model in unraveling social insect-microbe coevolution and resistance transmission dynamics, while also prospecting its application potential in developing novel antimicrobial peptides, designing probiotic formulations, and monitoring environmental resistance.

• Publication year

  2026

• Venue

  FEMS Microbiology Reviews

• Publication date

  2026-01-07

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1093/femsre/fuag001PMID 41499160PMCID 12866650
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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