Detection of two maternally inherited endosymbionts new to solitary bees

Solitary bees play an important role as pollinators of crops and flora. Due to the expanding use of bees within the genera Megachile and Osmia in commercial orchards, these bees are sold and shipped nationwide to supply demands. This flux of bees also means movement of their microbiota. Some bacteria residing in bees include endosymbionts capable of causing reproductive anomalies. Translocated bees could influence local bees if individuals from different regions have different endosymbiont infections. For example, presence of bacteria that induce cytoplasmic incompatibility, which results in inviable offspring from matings between infected males and uninfected females, could cause pollinator declines. To test for presence of bacteria capable of reproductive manipulation in commercially available species of orchard pollinating bees, I used diagnostic PCR to screen for 5 bacterial species previously documented to cause reproductive anomalies. I also screened wild-caught solitary bees from Lexington (KY) to compare with the commercial bees. I supplemented my screening by using 454-pyrosequencing on two commercially popular and two locally abundant bee species. Consistent with previous findings, I found a high frequency of Wolbachia infection in bees within the family Halictidae.  I also found two endosymbiotic bacteria that were previously undetected in solitary bees; Sodalis in the commercial species Osmia aglaia and Arsenophonus in the local species Lasioglossum pilosum. My results indicate that solitary bees have a complement of maternally inherited bacteria that are capable of reproductive manipulation. Future studies should elucidate the effects of these bacteria on translocated bee populations.