2024-03-29T14:19:49Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1529902021-12-28T16:01:57Zcom_10261_9676com_10261_8col_10261_9677
The generalist inside the specialist: gut bacterial communities of two insect species feeding on toxic plants are dominated by enterococcus sp.
Vilanova, Cristina
Baixeras, Joaquín
Latorre, Amparo
Porcar, Manuel
Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (España)
European Commission
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
Lepidoptera
Gut communities
Metagenomics
Enterococcus sp.
Secondary metabolites
Some specialist insects feed on plants rich in secondary compounds, which pose a major selective pressure on both the phytophagous and the gut microbiota. However, microbial communities of toxic plant feeders are still poorly characterized. Here, we show the bacterial communities of the gut of two specialized Lepidoptera, Hyles euphorbiae and Brithys crini, which exclusively feed on latex-rich Euphorbia sp. and alkaloid-rich Pancratium maritimum, respectively. A metagenomic analysis based on high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that the gut microbiota of both insects is dominated by the phylum Firmicutes, and especially by the common gut inhabitant Enterococcus sp. Staphylococcus sp. are also found in H. euphorbiae though to a lesser extent. By scanning electron microscopy, we found a dense ring-shaped bacterial biofilm in the hindgut of H. euphorbiae, and identified the most prominent bacterium in the biofilm as Enterococcus casseliflavus through molecular techniques. Interestingly, this species has previously been reported to contribute to the immobilization of latex-like molecules in the larvae of Spodoptera litura, a highly polyphagous lepidopteran. The E. casseliflavus strain was isolated from the gut and its ability to tolerate natural latex was tested under laboratory conditions. This fact, along with the identification of less frequent bacterial species able to degrade alkaloids and/or latex, suggest a putative role of bacterial communities in the tolerance of specialized insects to their toxic diet.
Financial support was provided by grant BFU2012-39816-C02-01 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain) co-financed by FEDER funds to Amparo Latorre and CGL2008-00605 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación) to Joaquín Baixeras. Cristina Vilanova is a recipient of a FPU fellowship from the Ministerio de Educación (Spain).
Peer reviewed
2017-07-14T11:45:57Z
2017-07-14T11:45:57Z
2016-06-28
2017-07-14T11:45:57Z
artículo
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Frontiers in Microbiology 7: 1005 (2016)
1664-302X
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/152990
10.3389/fmicb.2016.01005
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004837
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003329
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003176
27446044
Publisher's version
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.01005
Sí
open
Frontiers Media