Differing Dietary Nutrients and Diet-Associated Bacteria Has Limited Impact on Spider Gut Microbiota Composition.

Jie Liu,Fengjie Liu,Wang Zhang,Yang Zhu,Runhua Han,Letian Xu

doi:10.3390/microorganisms9112358

Jie Liu, Fengjie Liu + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9112358

Copy DOI

Abstract

Spiders are a key predator of insects across ecosystems and possess great potential as pest control agents. Unfortunately, it is difficult to artificially cultivate multiple generations of most spider species. Since gut bacterial flora has been shown to significantly alter nutrient availability, it is plausible that the spiders’ microbial community plays a key role in their unsuccessful breeding. However, both the gut microbial composition and its influencing factors in many spiders remain a mystery. In this study, the gut microbiota of Campanicola campanulata, specialists who prey on ants and are widely distributed across China, was characterized. After, the impact of diet and diet-associated bacteria on gut bacterial composition was evaluated. First, two species of prey ants (Lasius niger and Tetramorium caespitum) were collected from different locations and fed to C. campanulata. For each diet, we then profiled the nutritional content of the ants, as well as the bacterial communities of both the ants and spiders. Results showed that the protein and carbohydrate content varied between the two prey ant species. We isolated 682 genera from 356 families in the ants (dominant genera including Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Paraburkholderia, Staphylococcus, and Novosphingobium), and 456 genera from 258 families in the spiders (dominated by Pseudomonas). However, no significant differences were found in the gut microbiota of spiders that were fed the differing ants. Together, these results indicate that nutritional variation and diet-associated bacterial differences have a limited impact on the microbial composition of spider guts, highlighting that spiders may have a potentially stable internal environment and lay the foundation for future investigations into gut microbiota.

Highlights

Introduction iationsSpiders are some of the most successful animals that use venom for their survival and arguably consume the most diverse range of prey [1]
Our results demonstrated that the gut microbiota in all spiders maintained a consistent composition, with Pseudomonas as the dominant genus, which is known for its metabolic diversity and its ability to colonize many niches, including the gut [46]
Comparing the composition of the microbial community between predators and prey at the intraspecific level, we found that C. campanulata could maintain a relatively high level of Pseudomonas, which has been reported to produce tannase to detoxify or tolerate tannins in plant-based diets [49,50], but whether the function is relevant for spiders or the bacterium possesses another function in the spider’s gut needs further studies to verify

Summary

Introduction

Spiders are some of the most successful animals that use venom for their survival and arguably consume the most diverse range of prey [1]. They play a crucial role in biological pest control in paddy fields, orchards, cotton fields, and tea gardens [2,3,4]. Artificially breeding most spiders has proven challenging, either due to external environmental controls (temperature, humidity, etc.). Previous studies have shown that while spiders can digest a variety of foods, several spider taxa are specialized to prey on ants [6], which are difficult to breed artificially.

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion