Abstract
Eco-evolutionary dynamics of microbiotas at the macroscale level are largely driven by ecological variables. The diet and living environment of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, diversify during development, providing a natural system to explore convergence, divergence, and repeatability in patterns of microbiota dynamics as a function of the host diet, phylogeny, and environment. Here, we characterized the microbiotas of 47 B. dorsalis individuals from three distinct populations by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. A significant deviation was found within the larvae, pupae, and adults of each population. Pupae were characterized by an increased bacterial taxonomic and functional diversity. Principal components analysis showed that the microbiotas of larvae, pupae, and adults clearly separated into three clusters. Acetobacteraceae, Lactobacillaceae, and Enterobacteriaceae were the predominant families in larval and adult samples, and PICRUSt analysis indicated that phosphoglycerate mutases and transketolases were significantly enriched in larvae, while phosphoglycerate mutases, transketolases, and proteases were significantly enriched in adults, which may support the digestive function of the microbiotas in larvae and adults. The abundances of Intrasporangiaceae, Dermabacteraceae (mainly Brachybacterium) and Brevibacteriaceae (mainly Brevibacterium) were significantly higher in pupae, and the antibiotic transport system ATP-binding protein and antibiotic transport system permease protein pathways were significantly enriched there as well, indicating the defensive function of microbiotas in pupae. Overall, differences in the microbiotas of the larvae, pupae, and adults are likely to contribute to differences in nutrient assimilation and living environments.
Highlights
Many microorganisms reside on the insect exoskeleton, in the gut and hemocoel, and within insect cells (Douglas, 2015), and relationships ranging from parasitism to mutualism are built between microorganisms and insects (Berasategui et al, 2016)
Absolute content of the symbionts in flies were identified with qPCR, the results showed the symbionts content in each individual was about 106 CFU and there is no difference for the absolute content of the symbionts in different development stage (Supplementary Figure S1)
Shannon rarefaction curves for all samples showed a plateau stage, indicating adequate sampling of 16S rRNA sequences for all the samples (Supplementary Figure S2)
Summary
Many microorganisms reside on the insect exoskeleton, in the gut and hemocoel, and within insect cells (Douglas, 2015), and relationships ranging from parasitism to mutualism are built between microorganisms and insects (Berasategui et al, 2016). These microorganisms are often identified as symbionts of insects (Douglas, 2015). Hosts often exploit beneficial symbioses to augment their functional capabilities and to facilitate their adaptation to novel niches (Rio et al, 2006; Ye et al, 2014; Rafael et al, 2016)
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