Diet breadth and exploitation of exotic plants shift the core microbiome of Cephaloleia, a group of tropical herbivorous beetles.

ABSTRACT: The beetle genus Cephaloleia has evolved in association with tropical ginger plants and for many species their specific host plant associations are known. Here we show that the core microbiome of six closely related Costa Rican Cephaloleia species comprises only eight bacterial groups, including members of the Acinetobacter, Enterobacteriacea, Pseudomonas, Lactococcus, and Comamonas. The Acinetobacter and Enterobacteriacea together accounted for 35% of the total average 16S rRNA ribotypes recovered from all specimens. Further, microbiome diversity and community structure was significantly linked to beetle diet breadth, between those foraging on less than two plant types (specialists) versus over nine plant types (generalists). Moraxellaceae,

SUBMITTER: Blankenchip CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5960584 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature