Abstract
The gut microbiota has a crucial role in the growth, development and environmental adaptation in the host insect. The objective of our work was to investigate the microbiota of the healthy silkworm Bombyx mori gut and changes after the infection of B. mori cypovirus (BmCPV). Intestinal contents of the infected and healthy larvae of B. mori of fifth instar were collected at 24, 72 and 144 h post infection with BmCPV. The gut bacteria were analyzed by pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. 147(135) and 113(103) genera were found in the gut content of the healthy control female (male) larvae and BmCPV-infected female (male) larvae, respectively. In general, the microbial communities in the gut content of healthy larvae were dominated by Enterococcus, Delftia, Pelomonas, Ralstonia and Staphylococcus, however the abundance change of each genus was depended on the developmental stage and gender. Microbial diversity reached minimum at 144 h of fifth instar larvae. The abundance of Enterococcus in the females was substantially lower and the abundance of Delftia, Aurantimonas and Staphylococcus was substantially higher compared to the males. Bacterial diversity in the intestinal contents decreased after post infection with BmCPV, whereas the abundance of both Enterococcus and Staphylococcus which belongs to Gram-positive were increased. Therefore, our findings suggested that observed changes in relative abundance was related to the immune response of silkworm to BmCPV infection. Relevance analysis of plenty of the predominant genera showed the abundance of the Enterococcus genus was in negative correlation with the abundance of the most predominant genera. These results provided insight into the relationship between the gut microbiota and development of the BmCPV-infected silkworm.
Highlights
The silkworm Bombyx mori is an economically important domesticated insect considered as an ideal model organism for Lepidoptera
The gut bacteria were analyzed by pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. 147(135) and 113(103) genera were found in the gut content of the healthy control female larvae and B. mori cypovirus (BmCPV)-infected female larvae, respectively
Bacterial diversity was estimated by the Shannon index; the curves tended to plateau (Fig 1B) and the Shannon index of the gut microbiota of healthy silkworms was higher compared to BmCPV-infected silkworms, showing bacterial species diversity in the healthy silkworm gut was greater when compared with the BmCPV-infected silkworm gut and a similar result was obtained by Simpson index analysis
Summary
The objective of our work was to investigate the microbiota of the healthy silkworm Bombyx mori gut and changes after the infection of B. mori cypovirus
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