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Influence of Host Plant on Thaumetopoea pityocampa Gut Bacterial Community

  • Invertebrate Microbiology
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Abstract

Microbial communities associated to the gut of insects are attracting an increasing interest, mainly because of their role in influencing several host life-traits. The characterization of the gut microbial community is pivotal for understanding insect ecology and, thus, to develop novel pest management strategies. The pine processionary moth, Thaumetopoea pytiocampa (Denis & Schiff.) (Lepidoptera: Thaumetopoeidae), is a severe defoliator of pine forests, able to feed on several pine species. In this work, we performed a metabarcoding analysis to investigate, for the first time, the diversity of the gut bacterial community of pine processionary larvae associated with three different host pine species (Pinus halepensis, Pinus nigra subsp. laricio, and Pinus pinaster). We found that the gut microbial community of T. pityocampa larvae collected on P. halapensis was different from that associated with larvae collected from P. nigra and P. pinaster. Moreover, the high presence of bacteria belonging to the genera Modestobacter, Delftia, and unidentified Methylobacteriaceae retrieved in larvae feeding on P. halapensis suggested that specific interactions can occur. Our results provide the evidence that different host plant differently impact on the microbiota diversity of T. pityocampa larvae, contributing to the general knowledge of this pest with information that could be useful in shaping the next generation of pest control strategies.

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Acknowledgments

Analyses were carried out using instruments acquired with the support of PON SAF@MED (PON a3_00016) and PON PON03PE_00090_1-2-3 (PON Ricerca e competitività 2007–2013).

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  1. Cinzia P. Strano and Antonino Malacrinò contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Agraria, Università degli Studi “Mediterranea” di Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria, Italy

    Cinzia P. Strano, Antonino Malacrinò, Orlando Campolo & Vincenzo Palmeri

  2. Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Antonino Malacrinò

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  1. Cinzia P. Strano
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  2. Antonino Malacrinò
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Strano, C.P., Malacrinò, A., Campolo, O. et al. Influence of Host Plant on Thaumetopoea pityocampa Gut Bacterial Community. Microb Ecol 75, 487–494 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-017-1019-6

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