Symbiotic bacteria motivate the foraging decision and promote fecundity and survival of Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Mazarin Akami,Bingli Gao,Chang-Ying Niu,Abdelaziz Mansour,Xuewei Qi,Shuai Cao,Xue-Ming Ren

doi:10.1186/s12866-019-1607-3

Mazarin Akami, Bingli Gao + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-019-1607-3

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Abstract

BackgroundThe gut bacteria of tephritid fruit flies play prominent roles in nutrition, reproduction, maintenance and ecological adaptations of the host. Here, we adopted an approach based on direct observation of symbiotic or axenic flies feeding on dishes seeded with drops of full diet (containing all amino acids) or full diet supplemented with bacteria at similar concentrations to explore the effects of intestinal bacteria on foraging decision and fitness of Bactrocera dorsalis.ResultsThe results show that intestinal probiotics elicit beneficial foraging decision and enhance the female reproduction fitness and survival of B. dorsalis (symbiotic and axenic), yet preferences for probiotic diets were significantly higher in axenic flies to which they responded faster compared to full diet. Moreover, females fed diet supplemented with Pantoea dispersa and Enterobacter cloacae laid more eggs but had shorter lifespan while female fed Enterococcus faecalis and Klebsiella oxytoca enriched diets lived longer but had lower fecundity compared to the positive control. Conversely, flies fed sugar diet (negative control) were not able to produce eggs, but lived longer than those from the positive control.ConclusionsThese results suggest that intestinal bacteria can drive the foraging decision in a way which promotes the reproduction and survival of B. dorsalis. Our data highlight the potentials of gut bacterial isolates to control the foraging behavior of the fly and empower the sterile insect technique (SIT) program through the mass rearing.

Highlights

The gut bacteria of tephritid fruit flies play prominent roles in nutrition, reproduction, maintenance and ecological adaptations of the host
Some insects possess the ability to cultivate and digest their own gut bacteria as additional protein source to fuel their metabolic functions [25, 26]. These evidences somehow show that gut bacteria and the host nutritional status are intimately associated in driving the fitness and foraging behavior of the insect [18]
In the first experimental setting, we evaluated the effects of the presence or absence of bacteria on the responses of the flies to the diets presented, while in the second experiment, we evaluated the fecundity and longevity of females fed full and probiotic diets, respectively

Summary

Introduction

The gut bacteria of tephritid fruit flies play prominent roles in nutrition, reproduction, maintenance and ecological adaptations of the host. Insects are capable of shaping their foraging behavior and food consumption in a way that favors their growth and reproduction [1,2,3]. Some insects possess the ability to cultivate and digest their own gut bacteria as additional protein source to fuel their metabolic functions [25, 26]. These evidences somehow show that gut bacteria and the host nutritional status are intimately associated in driving the fitness and foraging behavior of the insect [18]

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