North American Fireflies Host Low Bacterial Diversity.

Emily A Green,Scott R Smedley,Jonathan L Klassen

doi:10.1007/s00248-021-01718-7

Emily A Green, Scott R Smedley + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-021-01718-7

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Journal: Microbial ecology	Publication Date: Feb 20, 2021
Citations: 3	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: University of Connecticut, Trinity College

Abstract

Although there are numerous studies of firefly mating flashes, lantern bioluminescence, and anti-predation lucibufagin metabolites, almost nothing is known about their microbiome. We therefore used 16S rRNA community amplicon sequencing to characterize the gut and body microbiomes of four North American firefly taxa: Ellychnia corrusca, the Photuris versicolor species complex, Pyractomena borealis, and Pyropyga decipiens. These firefly microbiomes all have very low species diversity, often dominated by a single species, and each firefly type has a characteristic microbiome. Although the microbiomes of male and female fireflies did not differ from each other, Ph. versicolor gut and body microbiomes did, with their gut microbiomes being enriched in Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter. Ellychnia corrusca egg and adult microbiomes were unique except for a single egg microbiome that shared a community type with E. corrusca adults, which could suggest microbial transmission from mother to offspring. Mollicutes that had been previously isolated from fireflies were common in our firefly microbiomes. These results set the stage for further research concerning the function and transmission of these bacterial symbionts.

Highlights

Beetles (Order: Coleoptera) are one of the most diverse insect groups, containing nearly400,000 species [1]
Our results show that fireflies have simple, species-specific microbiomes, and generate hypotheses about how diet and seasonality may drive firefly microbiome structure and function
A heatmap of the top 26 bacteria genera found in the microbiomes reflects these low levels of α-diversity, with most firefly microbiomes dominated by a single taxon but with minute amounts of other taxa present (Fig. 1)

Summary

Introduction

Beetles (Order: Coleoptera) are one of the most diverse insect groups, containing nearly400,000 species [1]. North America is home to over 125 firefly species, including Ellychnia corrusca, the Photuris versicolor species complex, Pyractomena borealis and Pyropyga decipiens [2]. These 4 types of fireflies occur sympatrically, ranging from the eastern coast of Canada, south to Florida, and west to the Great Plains [2, 3]. All four of these fireflies are carnivorous or omnivorous as larvae, attacking snails as their prey, and/or eating nectar and plant sap [4].

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