Patterns of Microbiome Composition Vary Across Spatial Scales in a Specialist Insect.

ABSTRACT: Microbial communities associated with animals vary based on both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Of many possible determinants affecting microbiome composition, host phylogeny, host diet, and local environment are the most important. How these factors interact across spatial scales is not well understood. Here, we seek to identify the main influences on microbiome composition in a specialist insect, the western corn rootworm (WCR; Diabrotica virgifera virgifera), by analyzing the bacterial communities of adults collected from their obligate host plant, corn (Zea mays), across several geographic locations and comparing the patterns in communities to its congeneric species, the northern corn rootworm (NCR; Diabrotica barberi). We found that bacterial communities of WCR

SUBMITTER: Paddock KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9201478 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature