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Abstract
Direct transmission of bacteria to subsequent generations highlights the beneficial nature of host-bacteria relationships. In insects, this process is often mediated by the production of microbe-containing secretions. The objective of this study was to determine if the burying beetle, Nicrophorus defodiens, utilizes anal secretions to transmit adult digestive tract bacteria onto a small vertebrate carcass; thus creating the potential to aid in carcass preservation or pass digestive tract bacteria to their larval offspring. Using high-throughput Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, we characterized bacterial communities of adult beetle digestive tracts, their anal secretions, and prepared mouse carcasses. We also examined unprepared carcass bacterial communities as a means to interpret community shifts that take place during carcass preservation. We found a vast reduction in diversity on prepared carcasses after anal secretion application. Overall, there was little similarity in bacterial communities among adult digestive tracts, anal secretions, and prepared carcasses, suggesting bacterial communities found in adult digestive tracts do not successfully colonize and achieve dominance on prepared carcasses by way of beetle anal secretions. We concluded that N. defodiens does not transmit their digestive tract bacterial communities to prepared carcasses in a wholesale manner, but may transmit key microbes, including core microbiome members, to preserved carcasses that may ultimately act to sustain larvae and serve as inocula for larval digestive tracts.
Highlights
Microbes provide beneficial and sometimes essential functions for their hosts
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study for N. defodiens that addresses the role of anal secretions in influencing the structure of the carcass bacterial community and in transmitting bacteria from adult beetle digestive tracts to carcasses by Bacterial transmission in Nicrophorus defodiens comparing bacterial communities across the adult digestive tracts, their anal secretions, as well as unprepared and prepared carcasses
We sought to evaluate the potential for anal secretions of N. defodiens to structure the prepared carcass community via transmittance of bacterial taxa from adult beetle digestive tracts to carcasses, where they could serve as inocula to later influence the gut communities of larval offspring
Summary
Microbes provide beneficial and sometimes essential functions for their hosts. They may aid in development [1,2,3], assist in digestive processes and nutrient acquisition [4,5,6], act as an innate defensive barrier against pathogens [7,8,9], and prime the host immune system [10,11,12]. Insects can use antimicrobial compounds to preserve food sources for developing larvae, which is seen as an effective parenting strategy [16]. We evaluate the role parental anal secretions play in transferring bacteria to their offspring food source in the burying beetle Nicrophorus defodiens
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