D21B Isolated from Pollen Pots of the Australian Stingless Bee

bacteria have been previously isolated predominantly from floral nectar and identified in metagenomic screenings as associated with bees. Here, we isolated three strains from the robust Australian stingless bee sharing over 99.4% sequence similarity with strains isolated from floral nectar. The three strains (D21B, D08K, D15G) from exhibited near-identical 16 rDNA. The genome of strain D21B was sequenced; its draft genome contains 3,294,717 bp, with a GC content of 47.38%. Genome annotation revealed 3236 protein-coding genes. The genome of D21B differs sufficiently from the closest related strain, 2.1A, to constitute a new species. In contrast to 2.1A, strain D21B produces the volatile 2-phenylethanol. The D21B genome contains a polyketide/non-ribosomal peptide gene cluster not present in any other draft genomes. Moreover, the strains isolated from grew in a minimal medium without thiamine, but 2.1A was thiamine-dependent. Strain D21B was named D21B, reflecting its origin from stingless bees. strains may contribute to the fitness of