The microbiota in spider mite feces potentially reflects intestinal bacterial communities in the host

AbstractMicroorganisms provide many physiological functions to herbivorous hosts. Spider mites (genusTetranychus) are important agricultural pests throughout the world; however, the composition of the spider mite microbial community, especially gut microbiome, remains unclear. Here, we investigated the bacterial community in five spider mite species and their associated feces by deep sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The composition of the bacterial community was significantly different among the five prevalent spider mite species, and some bacterial symbionts showed host ‐species specificity. Moreover, the abundance of the bacterial community in spider mite feces was significantly higher than that in the corresponding spider mite samples. However,Flavobacterium was detected in all samples, and represent a “core microbiome”. Remarkably, the maternally inherited endosymbiontWolbachia was detected in both spider mite and feces. Overall, these results offer insight into the complex community of symbionts in spider mites, and give a new direction for future studies.

Source: Insect Science - September 7, 2019 Category: Biology Authors: Yu ‐Xi Zhu, Zhang‐Rong Song, Yue‐Ling Song, Dian‐Shu Zhao, Xiao‐Yue Hong Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research