Infection of Ophiocordyceps sinensis Fungus Causes Dramatic Changes in the Microbiota of Its Thitarodes Host.

ABSTRACT: The Chinese cordyceps is a unique and valuable parasitic complex of Thitarodes/Hepialus ghost moths and the Ophiocordyceps sinensis fungus for medicine and health foods from the Tibetan Plateau. During artificial cultivation of Chinese cordyceps, the induction of blastospores into hyphae is a prerequisite for mummification of the infected Thitarodes larvae. To explore the microbial involvement in the induction of mycelia-blastospore transition, the microbiota of the hemolymph and gut from Thitarodes xiaojinensis larvae with or without injected O. sinensis blastospores were investigated by culture-dependent and -independent methods. Twenty-five culturable bacterial species and 14 fungal species, together with 537 bacterial operational taxonomic unit

SUBMITTER: Wu H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7744566 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature