Evidence for a con served microbiota across the different developmental stages of Plodia interpunctella

Diversityandcompositionoflepidopteranmicrobiotasarepoorlyinvestigated,especiallyacrossthedifferentdevelopmentalstages.Toimprovethisknowledge,wecharacterizethemicrobiotaamongdifferentdevelopmentalstagesoftheIndianmealmoth,Plodiainterpunctella,whichisconsideredoneofthemajorpestofcommoditiesworld-wide.Usingculture-independentapproachbasedonIllumina16SrRNAgenesequencingwecharacterizedthemicrobiotaoffourdevelopmentalstages:eggs,first-,andlast-instarlarvae,andadult.Atotalof1022bacterialOTUswereobtained,showingaquitediversifiedmicrobiotaassociatedtoalltheanalyzedstages.ThemicrobiotasassociatedwithP.interpunctellaresultedalmostconstantthroughoutthedevelopmentalstages,withapproximately77%ofbacterialOTUsbelongingtothephylumofProteobacteria.ThedominantbacterialgenusisrepresentedbyBurkholderia(?64%),followedbyPropionibacterium,Delftia,Pseudomonas,andStenotrophomonas.Acorebacterialcommunity,composedof139OTUs,wasdetectedinallthedevelopmentalstages,amongwhich112OTUswereassignedtothegenusBurkholderia.Aphylogeneticreconstruction,basedonthe16SrRNA,revealedthatourBurkholderiaOTUsclusteredwithBurkholderiacepaciacomplex,inthesamegroupofthoseisolatedfromthehemipteransGossypariaspuriaandAcanthococcusaceris.Thefunctionalprofiling,predictedonthebaseofthebacterial16SrRNA,indicatesdifferencesinthemetabolicpathwaysrelatedtometabolismofaminoacidsbetweenpreimaginalandadultstages.Wecanhypothesizethatbacteriamaysupporttheinsecthostduringpreimaginalstages.