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The Gut Microbiota Composition of the Moth Brithys crini Reflects Insect Metamorphosis

Microbial Ecology volume 79, pages 960–970 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Lepidoptera is a highly diverse insect order with major importance in agriculture as many species are considered pests. The role of the gut microbiota in insect physiology is still poorly understood, despite the research undertaken in recent years. Furthermore, Lepidoptera are holometabolous insects and few studies have addressed the influence of the changes taking place on the gut microbiome composition and diversity during metamorphosis, especially in monophagous species. The V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced to investigate the microbiota composition and diversity of the monophagous moth Brithys crini during three different life stages: egg, larvae (midgut and hindgut), and adult (gut). Our results showed that the microbiota composition of B. crini was stage specific, indicating that the developmental stage is a main factor affecting the gut microbiome in composition and potential functions. Moreover, the diversity of the gut microbiome reflected the developmental process, since a drop in diversity occurred between the larval and the adult phase, when the intestine is completely renewed. In spite of the changes in the gut microbiota during metamorphosis, 29 genera were conserved throughout the three developmental stages, mainly belonging to the Proteobacteria phylum, which define the core microbiome of B. crini. These genera seem to contribute to host physiology by participating in food digestion, nutrition, and detoxification mechanisms.

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Data Availability

All sequenced data are deposited at the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) under accession number PRJEB32079.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the UNAM-DGECI International scholarship for supporting Francisco González during his stay in Universitat de València. We thank Dr. Martínez-Martínez for his help in collecting B. crini eggs and Antonio González Serrano for editing Fig. 1b by Adobe Photoshop.

Funding

This work was funded by Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Spain) to AM (project SAF2015-65878-R) and AL (project BFU2015-64322-C2-1-R and PGC2018-099344-B-100), Generalitat Valenciana (Prometeo/2018/A/133), Asociación Española contra el Cancer (project AECC 2017-1485) and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Ana Elena Pérez-Cobas and Tania Rosas contributed equally to this work.

Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mexico

    Francisco González-Serrano

  2. Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, University of València and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, València, Spain

    Francisco González-Serrano, Tania Rosas, Amparo Latorre & Andrés Moya

  3. Institut Pasteur and Biologie des Bactéries Intracellulaires, Paris, France

    Ana Elena Pérez-Cobas

  4. CNRS UMR 3525, 75724, Paris, France

    Ana Elena Pérez-Cobas

  5. Instituto Cavanilles de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva, University of València, València, Spain

    Joaquín Baixeras

  6. Fundación para el Fomento de la Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de la Comunidad València, (FISABIO), València, Spain

    Amparo Latorre & Andrés Moya

  7. CIBER en Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBEResp), Madrid, Spain

    Amparo Latorre & Andrés Moya

  8. Integrative Systems Biology Institute (I2Sysbio) University of València and Spanish Research Council (CSIC). c/ Catedrático Agustín Escardino Benlloch 9, 46980, Paterna, València, Spain

    Andrés Moya

Authors
  1. Francisco González-Serrano
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  2. Ana Elena Pérez-Cobas
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  3. Tania Rosas
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  4. Joaquín Baixeras
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Contributions

A. Moya conceived the work. F. González-Serrano, T. A. E. Pérez-Cobas, T. Rosas-Pérez, and J. Baixeras, performed the experiments and the analyses. The manuscript was drafted and assembled by F. González-Serrano, A. E. Pérez-Cobas, and A. Latorre, coordinated by A. Moya and A. Latorre. All authors participated in the editing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Andrés Moya.

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González-Serrano, F., Pérez-Cobas, A.E., Rosas, T. et al. The Gut Microbiota Composition of the Moth Brithys crini Reflects Insect Metamorphosis. Microb Ecol 79, 960–970 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-019-01460-1

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Keywords

  • Gut microbiome
  • Moth
  • Holometabolous development
  • B. crini
  • 16S rRNA sequencing