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Unveiling symbiotic bacterial communities in insects feeding on the latex-rich plant Ficus microcarpa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2024

Waleed Afzal Naveed Open the ORCID record for Waleed Afzal Naveed [Opens in a new window] ,
Qian Liu ,
Congcong Lu  and
Xiaolei Huang Open the ORCID record for Xiaolei Huang [Opens in a new window]
Waleed Afzal Naveed
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Ecological Pest Control for Fujian and Taiwan Crops, College of Plant Protection, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China
Qian Liu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Ecological Pest Control for Fujian and Taiwan Crops, College of Plant Protection, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China
Congcong Lu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Ecological Pest Control for Fujian and Taiwan Crops, College of Plant Protection, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China
Xiaolei Huang*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Ecological Pest Control for Fujian and Taiwan Crops, College of Plant Protection, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China
*
Corresponding author: Xiaolei Huang; Email: huangxl@fafu.edu.cn
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Abstract

The diversity and health of insects that feed on plants are closely related to their mutualistic symbionts and host plants. These symbiotic partners significantly influence various metabolic activities in these insects. However, the symbiotic bacterial community of toxic plant feeders still needs further characterisation. This study aims to unravel bacterial communities associated with the different species of insect representing three insect orders: Thysanoptera, Hemiptera, and Lepidoptera, along with their predicted functional role, which exclusively feeds on latex-rich plant species Ficus microcarpa. By using 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing, the analysis was able to define the major alignment of the bacterial population, primarily comprising Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, Actinobacteriota, and Acidobacteriota. Significant differences in symbiotic organisms between three insect groups were discovered by the study: hemipterans had Burkholderia and Buchnera, and lepidopterans had Acinetobacter. At the same time, Pseudomonas was detected in high abundance in both lepidopteran and thysanopteran insects. Furthermore, these symbionts exhibit consistent core functions, potentially explaining how different insects can consume the same host plant. The identified core functions of symbionts open avenues for innovative approaches in utilising these relationships to develop environment-friendly solutions for pest control, with broader implications for agriculture and environmental conservation.

Keywords

bacterial symbiontslatexphylogenytoxic plant16S rRNA

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Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 114 , Issue 5 , October 2024 , pp. 652 - 662
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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