Real-time volatilomics reveals microbiota and pathogen fingerprints in the honey bee
7 affiliations
- 1Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland
- 2Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- 3Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology, National Research Council, Valencia, Spain
- 4Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland
- 5Department of Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland
- 6Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- 7Botnar Institute for Immune Engineering, Basel, Switzerland
Abstract
Understanding the complex relationship between gut microbiota and their hosts often relies on invasive sampling techniques. Honey bees provide a tractable model for host-microbe studies. Here, we establish single-bee volatilomics using secondary electrospray ionization–high-resolution mass spectrometry (SESI-HRMS) to examine volatile organic compounds released to the air around an individual live honey bee. Specifically, we focused on the primary gut microbiota metabolites present in gnotobiotic bees. Our findings reveal distinct volatilome profiles in honey bees that depend on their gut bacterial colonization state. We cross-validated our findings using an established metabolomics technique, liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS), to compare and contrast the metabolites detectable with each method. Finally, we assessed the ability of SESI-HRMS to detect colonization with the bee pathogen Serratia marcescens. By comparing the volatile signature of this bacterium grown in liquid culture with that of infected honey bee headspace, we identified overlapping compounds, including butane-2,3-diol, that were elevated in infected bees relative to uninfected controls. Non-invasive SESI-HRMS volatilomics, paired with LC-HRMS, therefore, have the potential to identify biomarkers of bee microbiome composition and infection at the level of individual insects. These biomarkers represent practical targets for the development of simple, field-ready diagnostic tools for monitoring pollinator health.
IMPORTANCE: Honey bees are vital to various ecosystems and human agriculture as globally present pollinators. Current declines in bee populations threaten crop productivity and biodiversity and are driven by many factors, including habitat loss, pesticides, and pathogenic infections. The findings presented in this work demonstrate how the analysis of volatile species can precisely detect products of metabolic activity coming from the honey bee and its associated gut microbial community. We were able to demonstrate how high-resolution mass spectrometry can be used to study the host-microbiota relationship on the level of an individual insect. This technique, combined with volatilomics, allowed us to outline a volatile signature of infection in honey bees, which could become a target for in-field beehive disease monitoring.
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BibTeX
@article{fido2026realtime,
title = {{Real-time volatilomics reveals microbiota and pathogen fingerprints in the honey bee}},
author = {Mateusz Fido and Silvia Moriano-Gutierrez and Jiayi Lan and Aurélien Pirat and Léa Zufferey and Elisa Cappio Barazzone and Renato Zenobi and Philip Engel and Emma Slack},
journal = {mBio},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1128/mbio.01419-26},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01419-26},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Real-time volatilomics reveals microbiota and pathogen fingerprints in the honey bee
AU - Mateusz Fido
AU - Silvia Moriano-Gutierrez
AU - Jiayi Lan
AU - Aurélien Pirat
AU - Léa Zufferey
AU - Elisa Cappio Barazzone
AU - Renato Zenobi
AU - Philip Engel
AU - Emma Slack
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/09
JO - mBio
DO - 10.1128/mbio.01419-26
UR - https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01419-26
AB - Understanding the complex relationship between gut microbiota and their hosts often relies on invasive sampling techniques. Honey bees provide a tractable model for host-microbe studies. Here, we establish single-bee volatilomics using secondary electrospray ionization–high-resolution mass spectrometry (SESI-HRMS) to examine volatile organic compounds released to the air around an individual live honey bee. Specifically, we focused on the primary gut microbiota metabolites present in gnotobiotic bees. Our findings reveal distinct volatilome profiles in honey bees that depend on their gut bacterial colonization state. We cross-validated our findings using an established metabolomics technique, liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS), to compare and contrast the metabolites detectable with each method. Finally, we assessed the ability of SESI-HRMS to detect colonization with the bee pathogen Serratia marcescens. By comparing the volatile signature of this bacterium grown in liquid culture with that of infected honey bee headspace, we identified overlapping compounds, including butane-2,3-diol, that were elevated in infected bees relative to uninfected controls. Non-invasive SESI-HRMS volatilomics, paired with LC-HRMS, therefore, have the potential to identify biomarkers of bee microbiome composition and infection at the level of individual insects. These biomarkers represent practical targets for the development of simple, field-ready diagnostic tools for monitoring pollinator health. IMPORTANCE: Honey bees are vital to various ecosystems and human agriculture as globally present pollinators. Current declines in bee populations threaten crop productivity and biodiversity and are driven by many factors, including habitat loss, pesticides, and pathogenic infections. The findings presented in this work demonstrate how the analysis of volatile species can precisely detect products of metabolic activity coming from the honey bee and its associated gut microbial community. We were able to demonstrate how high-resolution mass spectrometry can be used to study the host-microbiota relationship on the level of an individual insect. This technique, combined with volatilomics, allowed us to outline a volatile signature of infection in honey bees, which could become a target for in-field beehive disease monitoring.
SN - 2150-7511
ER -