What effect would a rod-shaped bacteria have on a bee?

I need this for a question I am answering and need it ASAP. I am so confused! What would it do to a Bee?


Would it help or hurt?

What effect would a rod-shaped bacteria have on a bee?
"Bacillus - Singular for a rod-shaped bacterium (plural, bacilli). There is Bacillis sphaericus (gram positive) that is important for a bee's digestion and immune system. Then again, there is another gram positive bacillus known as Paenibacillus larvae. Paenibacillus can seriously weaken and finally destroy an entire colony of honey bees. What's worse, is that when a bee colony is in this weakened state, their defenses against neighboring robber bees is low. These robber bees from nearby colonies will take the infected honey back to their own colonies and start the whole vicious cycle all over again--causing widespread destruction of the bee poulation. Too, beekeepers can inadvertantly spread the bacterium when they handle the honey. It gets on their tools, etc. Then, using stored equipment contaminated by spores will lead to a new infection even after years of storage. If there are no honey bees, there's no pollination of their favored flowers (blue and yellow) or assistance in that flower's seed production, and, in turn, no production of honey!





"Honey bees, Apis mellifera, face many parasites and pathogens that cause them disease, and consequently rely on a diverse set of individual and group-level defenses to prevent that disease. One route by which honey bees and other insects might combat disease is through the shielding effects of their microbial symbionts. Bees carry a diverse assemblage of bacteria, very few of which appear to be pathogenic. The primary bacterial pathogen of honey bees is gram-positive Paenibacillus larvae (American foulbrood)."





Evans, J.D., Armstrong, T.N. 2005. Selective screening for honey bee bacterial symbionts that inhibit a key bacterial pathogen, paenibacillus larvae. Journal of Apicultural Research. 44:168-171.





Interpretive Summary: "Among the honey bee diseases, American Foulbrood disease (AFB) is especially widespread and damaging. This disease is caused by a single species of bacteria, Paenibacillus larvae. We used inhibition assays and genetic screens to identify several bacterial species found in natural bee populations that strongly inhibit P. larvae. These newly identified bacteria are candidates for novel control strategies against P. larvae and other honey bee disease agents. They also can help explain great variation across bees and colonies in disease rates when exposed to P. larvae. The results can be used to help develop novel strategies that reduce the need for antibiotics and other controls for this disease.


Technical Abstract: Insects harbor diverse bacterial symbionts and it is increasingly evident that many of these symbionts play important facultative roles as mutualists. While honey bees possess a diverse microbial flora, the impacts of most of these species on honey bee health remains unresolved. Here, in vitro inhibition assays were used to identify bacteria isolated from larval honey bees that inhibit the gram-positive bacterium Paenibacillus larvae larvae, the primary pathogen of bees. Among the diverse bacteria cultured from larval bees, strains placed in the genera Stenotrophomonas, Acitenobacter, Brevibacillus and Bacillus showed the most consistent inhibition of this widespread pathogen. These species were present in approximately 10% of the larvae from an age class that is susceptible to P. l. larvae. Accordingly, symbiotic bacteria including those described here are plausible antagonists toward this important pathogen. The results suggest a tradeoff between the maintenance of potentially beneficial bacterial symbionts versus mechanisms at the individual or colony level to reduce infection by pathogens".
Reply:As far as effecting it physically, the bee is still way bigger than any bacteria so no real effect there. Otherwise, are you talking about the bee getting sick? There are more than one type of rod shaped bacteria, so would depend on the specific strain of bacteria as to wether it could help or hurt.
Reply:All species can be effected by all 3 types of bacteria, and most diseases are species specific. There are rod shaped bacteria called bacillus which can effect bees. There is a spore forming bacillus that can be in honey, which is why babies under a year are not supposed to get honey. Their digestive systems can not kill the spores and they can get botulism from honey.Clostridium botulinum