Abstract
Microorganisms in insect guts have been recognized as having a great impact on their hosts' nutrition, health, and behavior. Spiders are important natural enemies of pests, and the composition of the gut microbiota of spiders remains unclear. Will the bacterial taxa in spiders be same as the bacterial taxa in insects, and what are the potential functions of the gut bacteria in spiders? To gain insight into the composition of the gut bacteria in spiders and their potential function, we collected three spider species, Pardosa laura, Pardosa astrigera, and Nurscia albofasciata, in the field, and high‐throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA V3 and V4 regions was used to investigate the diversity of gut microbiota across the three spider species. A total of 23 phyla and 150 families were identified in these three spider species. The dominant bacterial phylum across all samples was Proteobacteria. Burkholderia, Ralstonia, Ochrobactrum, Providencia, Acinetobacter, Proteus, and Rhodoplanes were the dominant genera in the guts of the three spider species. The relative abundances of Wolbachia and Rickettsiella detected in N. albofasciata were significantly higher than those in the other two spider species. The relative abundance of Thermus, Amycolatopsis, Lactococcus, Acinetobacter Microbacterium, and Koribacter detected in spider gut was different among the three spider species. Biomolecular interaction networks indicated that the microbiota in the guts had complex interactions. The results of this study also suggested that at the genus level, some of the gut bacteria taxa in the three spider species were the same as the bacteria in insect guts.
Highlights
Gut bacteria are a vital bacterial community in arthropods and have been reported in regard to their compositions and poten‐ tial functions (Engel, Martinson, & Moran, 2012; Hongoh, 2011; Thong‐On et al, 2012)
A total of 23 phyla and 150 families were identified in the spider hosts, and Proteobacteria was the most dominant bacterial phylum
Burkholderia and Ralstonia were the most dominant bacterial gen‐ era detected in the spider guts in this study
Summary
Gut bacteria are a vital bacterial community in arthropods and have been reported in regard to their compositions and poten‐ tial functions (Engel, Martinson, & Moran, 2012; Hongoh, 2011; Thong‐On et al, 2012). Much research has been conducted on endo‐ symbionts in spiders, gut bacteria, as a very important part of bacte‐ rial communities in spiders, have rarely been reported on. Spiders have their own special feeding style compared with insects and other arthropods. According to the special predatory way of spiders, we hypothesize that the gut bacterial communities of spiders may be different from those of other arthropods because of their special feeding style. The aim of this study was to characterize the gut microbiota associated with the spider species (P. laura, P. as‐ trigera, and N. albofasciata) by Illumina sequencing the 16S rRNA V3‐ V4 high variable region and to compare the gut bacterial components of different spider species. This study is an early attempt to examine the gut microbiota of spiders, and it will provide a foundation for future studies on the relationships between gut microbiota and their hosts
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