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Abstract
Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are fast-growing, resilient insects that can break down a variety of organic substrates and convert them into valuable proteins and lipids for applications in the feed industry. Decomposition is mediated by an abundant and versatile gut microbiome, which has been studied for more than a decade. However, little is known about the phylogeny, properties and functions of bacterial isolates from the BSFL gut. We therefore characterized the BSFL gut microbiome in detail, evaluating bacterial diversity by culture-dependent methods and amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Redundant strains were identified by genomic fingerprinting and 105 non-redundant isolates were then tested for their ability to inhibit pathogens. We cultivated representatives of 26 genera, covering 47% of the families and 33% of the genera detected by amplicon sequencing. Among these isolates, we found several representatives of the most abundant genera: Morganella, Enterococcus, Proteus and Providencia. We also isolated diverse members of the less-abundant phylum Actinobacteria, and a novel genus of the order Clostridiales. We found that 15 of the isolates inhibited at least one of the tested pathogens, suggesting a role in helping to prevent colonization by pathogens in the gut. The resulting culture collection of unique BSFL gut bacteria provides a promising resource for multiple industrial applications.
Highlights
Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens: Diptera, Stratiomyidae) larvae (BSFL) are useful for the bioconversion of organic materials into valuable compounds such as proteins, lipids and chitin, which can be used as food and feed additives and for the production of biopolymers for industrial and medical applications
The bacterial isolates from BSFL guts in this study provide a large collection of strains from four phyla obtained under both aerobic and anaerobic cultivation conditions
We have carried out the first comprehensive study exploring the BSFL gut microbiome using both cultivation-independent and cultivation-dependent approaches
Summary
Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens: Diptera, Stratiomyidae) larvae (BSFL) are useful for the bioconversion of organic materials into valuable compounds such as proteins, lipids and chitin, which can be used as food and feed additives and for the production of biopolymers for industrial and medical applications. In. 2017 the European Union approved BSFL for aquaculture feeding [1,2]. Large amounts of fishmeal are used as feed for aquaculture, which causes several ecological problems such as marine overexploitation and entry of contaminants into the food chain. The larvae are highly versatile because they can utilize diverse substrates, such as industrial side streams and waste products, with a remarkably efficient feed conversion ratio, making them one of the Microorganisms 2021, 9, 1642.
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