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Endosymbiotic Bacteria Aid to Overcome Temperature Induced Stress in the Oriental Fruit Fly, Bactrocera dorsalis

  • Invertebrate Microbiology
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Abstract

Endosymbiotic microbiota are known to have an enormous impact on their host, influencing its physiology, behavior, fitness, and various other aspects. The present study hypothesizes that certain bacterial symbionts aid the Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis in its adaptation to survive thermal stress encountered in the environment. Investigative studies on the change in gut and reproductive tract microbiota diversity of male and female B. dorsalis revealed that certain genera of Acinetobacter, Brevibacillus, Bacillus, Enterobacter, Enterococcus, Pseudomonas, and Staphylococcus were involved in the adaptation of B. dorsalis to temperature stresses. The intestinal and reproductive tract bacterial community of B. dorsalis varied depending on the temperature the insects were reared at. We hypothesized that the microbiota present in B. dorsalis’ gut helped it endure temperature stresses over prolonged periods. Out of 54 bacterial isolates, 25, 15, and 14 isolates were obtained from flies reared at 27 °C, 18 °C, and 35 °C, respectively. A 16S rDNA analysis revealed that the bacterial isolates (reared at different temperatures) belonged to different genera. The flies were supplemented with antibiotics to suppress the existing gut microbiota and subsequently fed with bacterial isolates from flies reared at 18 °C, 27 °C (control) or 35 °C separately. When these flies were placed in incubators pre-set at the above temperatures, the survival rate exhibited by the flies differed significantly. The flies fed with bacterial isolates from 18 °C could survive only in incubators pre-set at 18 °C, while flies fed with bacterial isolates from 35 °C could survive only at 35 °C and not vice versa. The microbiota supplementation assay established that the presence of specific bacterial isolates aided the flies’ survival under varied thermal stresses.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Director of IIHR, Bengaluru for use of the research facilities. This study is part of Doctoral work of the first author at Jain University, Bengaluru. We sincerely acknowledge the support of Mr. Saravan Kumar P in statistical analysis and graphs preparation, Meenal Vyas and Maurya HK for editing the final revised version.

Funding

The financial support from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (through NICRA project) is duly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology and Nematology, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta Lake post, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 89, India

    Arthikirubha Ayyasamy, Vivek Kempraj & Kamala Jayanthi Pagadala Damodaram

  2. Principal Scientist & ICAR National Fellow, Division of Entomology & Nematology, ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hesseraghatta Lake PO, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560089, India

    Kamala Jayanthi Pagadala Damodaram

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  1. Arthikirubha Ayyasamy
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AA carried out the experiments, bioinformatics and sequence analysis, manuscript writing. VK contributed to the design of the study and statistical analysis of antibiotic bioassays. PDK conceived and designed the study, data analysis and manuscript writing. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kamala Jayanthi Pagadala Damodaram.

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Ayyasamy, A., Kempraj, V. & Pagadala Damodaram, K.J. Endosymbiotic Bacteria Aid to Overcome Temperature Induced Stress in the Oriental Fruit Fly, Bactrocera dorsalis. Microb Ecol 82, 783–792 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-021-01682-2

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