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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Bacteria and Host
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1439476
This article is part of the Research Topic Interactions between Insects, Gut Flora, and Pathogens: Insights from Vector Insects View all 3 articles

Diversity analyses of bacterial symbionts in four Sclerodermus (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) parasitic wasps, the dominant biological control agents of wood-boring beetles in China

Provisionally accepted
Kui Kang Kui Kang 1Lina Wang Lina Wang 1*Jun Gong Jun Gong 1*Yanlong Tang Yanlong Tang 1*Ke Wei Ke Wei 2
  • 1 Zunyi Normal University College, Zunyi, China
  • 2 Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: Sclerodermus wasps are important biocontrol agents of a class of wood borers. Bacterial symbionts influence the ecology and biology of their hosts in a variety of ways, including the formation of life-long beneficial or detrimental parasitic infections. However, only a few studies have explored the species and content of the symbionts in the Sclerodermus species.Methods: Here, a high-throughput sequencing study of the V3-V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene revealed a high level of microbial variety in four Sclerodermus waps, and their diversities and functions were also predictedThe three most prevalent phyla of microorganisms in the sample were Firmicutes, Bacteroides, and Proteus. The KEEG pathways prediction results indicated that the three pathways with the highest relative abundances in the S. sichuanensis species were translation, membrane transport, and nucleotide metabolism. These pathways differed from those observed in S. guani, S. pupariae, and S. alternatusi, which exhibited carbohydrate metabolism, membrane transport, and amino acid metabolism, respectively. Bacteroides were found to be abundant in several species, whereas Wolbachia was the most abundant among S. sichuanensis, with a significant negative correlation between temperature and carriage rate.Conclusions: These results offer insights into the microbial communities associated with the bethylid wasps, which is crucial for understanding how to increase the reproductive capacity of wasps, enhance their parasitic effects, and lower cost in biocontrol.

    Keywords: Sclerodermus, Bacterial symbionts, 16S ribosomal RNA amplification sequencing, Microbial Diversity, Wolbachia

    Received: 28 May 2024; Accepted: 01 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kang, Wang, Gong, Tang and Wei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Lina Wang, Zunyi Normal University College, Zunyi, China
    Jun Gong, Zunyi Normal University College, Zunyi, China
    Yanlong Tang, Zunyi Normal University College, Zunyi, China

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