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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Hilo, Hawaii » Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center » Tropical Pest Genetics and Molecular Biology Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #410392
Research Project: Advancing Molecular Pest Management, Diagnostics, and Eradication of Fruit Flies and Invasive Species

Location: Tropical Pest Genetics and Molecular Biology Research Unit

Title: Impact of larval food source on the stability of the Bactrocera dorsalis microbiome

Author
item KEMPRAJ, VIVEK - University Of Hawaii
item Auth, Jean
item Cha, Dong
item Mason, Charles

Submitted to: Microbial Ecology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/22/2024
Publication Date: 2/26/2024
Citation: Kempraj, V., Auth, J.E., Cha, D.H., Mason, C.J. 2024. Impact of larval food source on the stability of the Bactrocera dorsalis microbiome. Microbial Ecology. 87. Article 46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-024-02352-9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-024-02352-9

Interpretive Summary: Microbial interactions can have critical roles on insect behavior and physiology. Understanding gut bacterial dynamics between larval and adult insect life stages is crucial for identifying core members of host microbiomes. In this study, we evaluated the impact of larval host fruit on the microbiome of newly emerged Oriental fruit flies, Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera:Tephritidae) to identify potentially conserved, and important, bacteria. We performed 16S rRNA sequencing on the gut and ovipositor tissues of teneral female flies reared out from 4 different host fruits (guava, mango, papaya, and rose-apple) infested using cohorts of wild B. dorsalis emerged from tropical almond as the mother flies. Although B. dorsalis-associated microbiota were predominantly shaped by the larval diet, some major bacterial amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) of the mother flies were retained in progenies raised on different larval diets. With some variation, Klebsiella (ASV 1 & 2), Morganella (ASV 3), Providencia (ASV 6) and unclassified Enterobacteria (ASV 69 & 79) were the major bacterial symbionts. Importantly, while there were taxonomically conserved bacteria present across treatments, we observed unique ASVs across the different fruit types, indicating some variation at a strain level.

Technical Abstract: Bacterial symbionts are crucial to the life history of Bactrocera dorsalis. With larval diet (i.e., fruit host) being a key factor that determines microbiome composition and with B. dorsalis using more than 400 fruits as hosts, it is unclear if certain bacterial symbionts are preserved in newly emerged adults across changes in larval diet. Here we conducted a fly rearing experiment to characterize diet-induced changes in the microbiome of female B. dorsalis. In order to explicitly investigate the impacts of larval diet on the microbiome, including potential stable bacterial constituents of B. dorsalis, we performed 16S rRNA sequencing on the gut and ovipositor tissues of teneral female flies reared out from 4 different host fruits (guava, mango, papaya, and rose-apple) infested using cohorts of wild B. dorsalis emerged from tropical almond as the mother flies. Although B. dorsalis-associated microbiota were predominantly shaped by the larval diet, some major bacterial amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) of the mother flies were retained in progenies raised on different larval diets. With some variation, Klebsiella (ASV 1 & 2), Morganella (ASV 3), Providencia (ASV 6) and unclassified Enterobacteria (ASV 69 & 79) were the major bacterial symbionts that were always present among and made up 0.1 - 80% of the gut and ovipositor microbiome of female teneral flies reared on different host fruits. Our results suggest that certain groups of bacteria are stably associated with female B. dorsalis even when larval diet changes.