Sources of Variation in the Gut Microbial Community of Lycaeides melissa Caterpillars.

ABSTRACT: Microbes can mediate insect-plant interactions and have been implicated in major evolutionary transitions to herbivory. Whether microbes also play a role in more modest host shifts or expansions in herbivorous insects is less clear. Here we evaluate the potential for gut microbial communities to constrain or facilitate host plant use in the Melissa blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa). We conducted a larval rearing experiment where caterpillars from two populations were fed plant tissue from two hosts. We used 16S rRNA sequencing to quantify the relative effects of sample type (frass versus whole caterpillar), diet (plant species), butterfly population and development (caterpillar age) on the composition and diversity of the caterpillar gut microbial communities, and secondly, to test for a

SUBMITTER: Chaturvedi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5595848 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature