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Degradation capacities of bacteria and yeasts isolated from the gut of Dendroctonus rhizophagus (Curculionidae: Scolytinae)

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Abstract

Bark beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) feed on the xylem and phloem of their host, which are composed of structural carbohydrates and organic compounds that are not easily degraded by the insects. Some of these compounds might be hydrolyzed by digestive enzymes produced by microbes present in the gut of these insects. In this study, we evaluated the enzymatic capacity of bacteria (Acinetobacter lwoffii, Arthrobacter sp., Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas azotoformans, and Rahnella sp.) and yeasts (Candida piceae, Candida oregonensis, Cyberlindnera americana, Zygoascus sp., and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa) isolated from the Dendroctonus rhizophagus gut to hydrolyze cellulose, xylan, pectin, starch, lipids, and esters. All isolates, with the exception of C. piceae, showed lipolytic activity. Furthermore, P. putida, P. azotoformans, C. americana, C. piceae, and R. mucilaginosa presented amylolytic activity. Esterase activity was shown by A. lwoffii, P. azotoformans, and Rahnella sp. Cellulolytic and xylanolytic activities were present only in Arthrobacter sp. and P. azotoformans. The pectinolytic activity was not recorded in any isolate. This is the first study to provide evidence on the capacity of microbes associated with the D. rhizophagus gut to hydrolyze specific substrates, which might cover part of the nutritional requirements for the development, fitness, and survival of these insects.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Compañía Papelera Mexicana (COPAMEX) for providing us the access to the installations in San Juanito, Chihuahua. We also thank Fabiola Hernández, Gabriel Obregón, Salvador Embarcadero, En Tao Wang Hu, and Ma. Eugenia Hidalgo for their comments and valuable suggestions regarding the manuscript. This project was funded by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT 169494/CB2011) and Secretaría de Investigación y Posgrado del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (SIP 20120753). This work was part of Carlos I. Briones-Roblero PhD dissertation. He was a fellow of CONACyT (227280) and of the Programa Institucional de Formación de Investigadores del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (PIFI-IPN B110598).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Laboratorio de Variación Biológica y Evolución, Prol. Carpio Esq. Plan de Ayala s/n, Casco de Santo Tomás, C. P. 11340, México D. F, Mexico

    Carlos I. Briones-Roblero, José A. Santiago-Cruz & Gerardo Zúñiga

  2. Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Laboratorio de Ecología Microbiana, Prol. Carpio Esq. Plan de Ayala s/n, Casco de Santo Tomás, C. P. 11340, México D. F, Mexico

    Roberto Rodríguez-Díaz & Flor N. Rivera-Orduña

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  1. Carlos I. Briones-Roblero
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  2. Roberto Rodríguez-Díaz
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  3. José A. Santiago-Cruz
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  4. Gerardo Zúñiga
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Correspondence to Flor N. Rivera-Orduña.

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Briones-Roblero, C.I., Rodríguez-Díaz, R., Santiago-Cruz, J.A. et al. Degradation capacities of bacteria and yeasts isolated from the gut of Dendroctonus rhizophagus (Curculionidae: Scolytinae). Folia Microbiol 62, 1–9 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-016-0469-4

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