Presence of non-symbiotic yeasts in a symbiont-transferring organ of a stag beetle that lacks yeast symbionts found in other stag beetles

Abstract

Dispersal from wood to wood is essential for wood-inhabiting fungi and wood-inhabiting insects play an important role in the dispersal success of such fungi. However, it is poorly understood whether wood-inhabiting insects which change the habitats from wood to non-wood environments can contribute to the fungal dispersal. Larvae of most stag beetles (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) are wood feeders, while adults are sap feeders. Female adults of lulcanids possess specialized organs (mycetangia) for transportation of fungal symbionts and harbor specific yeasts (e.g., Scheffersomyces spp.) within. Here, we report that the lucanid Aegus subnitidus harbors non-specific yeasts facultatively in mycetangia. We conducted yeast isolation from mycetangia and hindguts of female adults, in a larval gallery in wood-associated materials, and in female-visiting fermented tree sap using culture-dependent methods. Less than half of the females carried a total of 20 yeast species with small amounts using mycetangia and a female harbored up to five species, suggesting the absence of an intimate association with specific yeasts that are found in other lucanids. Yeast species compositions markedly differed between the larval gallery and sap. Most yeasts from the larval galley exhibited xylose-assimilation abilities, while few yeasts from sap did. Mycetangial yeasts comprised a combination from both sources. In hindguts, most yeasts were found in sap (> 70%) with no yeasts in the larval gallery. Sap-associated yeasts in each female mycetangium were also obtained from the female-visiting sap patch, while mycetangial, larval gallery-associated yeasts were absent from the patch, suggesting the survival success of larval gallery-associated yeasts in mycetangia through sap patches. Therefore, wood-inhabiting insects that possess mycetangia can potentially act as vectors of non-symbiotic wood-inhabiting yeasts dispersing from wood to wood via other environments.