This study is a little thick, so maybe others can help explain it better. From what I can get, they determined for the first time that bees are using the microbiome in their hindgut to help digest pollen. There's also a connection to JH in the process. 


>Our results show that the honey bee gut microbiota utilizes a wide range of pollen-derived substrates, including flavonoids and outer pollen wall components, suggesting a key role for degradation of recalcitrant secondary plant metabolites and pollen digestion. 

>Moreover, a specific gut symbiont, Bifidobacterium asteroides, stimulated the production of host hormones known to impact bee development. 

>Our study reveals diverse bacterial functions that are likely to contribute to bee health and provide fundamental insights into how metabolic activities are partitioned within gut communities.



Disentangling metabolic functions of bacteria in the honey bee gut
Lucie Kešnerová , Ruben A. T. Mars , Kirsten M. Ellegaard, Michaël Troilo, Uwe Sauer, Philipp Engel 

http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2003467


Bill Hesbach
Northeast USA 

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