Microbial symbiotic community is crucial for honey bee health. Recent studies are investigating on colibactin, a bacterial product that may play an important role in honey bee immunity, as reported in Nature Review Microbiology. Colibactin is a genotoxic compound produced by Frischella perrara, a non-core bacterial species inhabiting between honey bee midgut and hindgut. In human beings colibactin may have carcinogenic effects, but in honey bees it appears to act against pathogens. A new piece to understand the honey bee immunity.

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