Comparative evaluation of the gut microbiota associated with the below- and above-ground life stages (larvae and beetles) of the forest cockchafer, Melolontha hippocastani.

ABSTRACT: A comparison of the diversity of bacterial communities in the larval midgut and adult gut of the European forest cockchafer (Melolontha hippocastani) was carried out using approaches that were both dependent on and independent of cultivation. Clone libraries of the 16S rRNA gene revealed 150 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that belong to 11 taxonomical classes and two other groups that could be classified only to the phylum level. The most abundant classes were β, δ and γ-proteobacteria, Clostridia, Bacilli, Erysipelotrichi and Sphingobacteria. Although the insect's gut is emptied in the prepupal stage and the beetle undergoes a long diapause period, a subset of eight taxonomic classes from the aforementioned eleven were found to be common in the guts of diapausing adults and the larval

SUBMITTER: Arias-Cordero E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3519724 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature