AUTHOR=Yang Yajun , Liu Xiaogai , Xu Hongxing , Liu Yinghong , Lu Zhongxian 

TITLE=Effects of Host Plant and Insect Generation on Shaping of the Gut Microbiota in the Rice Leaffolder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.824224

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.824224

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Gut microbes in insects may play an important role in the digestion, immunity and protection, detoxification of toxins, development, and reproduction. The rice leaffolder <italic>Cnaphalocrocis medinalis</italic> (Guenée) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) is a notorious insect pest that can damage rice, maize, and other gramineous plants. To determine the effects of host plants and generations on the gut microbiota of <italic>C. medinalis</italic>, we deciphered the bacterial configuration of this insect pest fed rice or maize for three generations by Illumina MiSeq technology. A total of 16 bacterial phyla, 34 classes, 50 orders, 101 families, 158 genera, and 44 species were identified in <italic>C. medinalis</italic> fed rice or maize for three generations. Host plants, insect generation, and their interaction did not influence the alpha diversity indices of the gut microbiota of <italic>C. medinalis</italic>. The dominant bacterial taxa were <italic>Proteobacteria</italic> and <italic>Firmicutes</italic> at the phylum level and <italic>Enterococcus</italic> and unclassified <italic>Enterobacteriaceae</italic> at the genus level. A number of twenty genera coexisted in the guts of <italic>C. medinalis</italic> fed rice or maize for three generations, and their relative abundances occupied more than 90% of the gut microbiota of <italic>C. medinalis</italic>. A number of two genera were stably found in the gut of rice-feeding <italic>C. medinalis</italic> but unstably found in the gut microbiota of maize-feeding <italic>C. medinalis</italic>, and seven genera were stably found in the gut of maize-feeding <italic>C. medinalis</italic> but unstably found in the gut of rice-feeding <italic>C. medinalis</italic>. In addition, many kinds of microbes were found in some but not all samples of the gut of <italic>C. medinalis</italic> fed on a particular host plant. PerMANOVA indicated that the gut bacteria of <italic>C. medinalis</italic> could be significantly affected by the host plant and host plant × generation. We identified 47 taxa as the biomarkers for the gut microbiota of <italic>C. medinalis</italic> fed different host plants by LEfSe. Functional prediction suggested that the most dominant role of the gut microbiota in <italic>C. medinalis</italic> is metabolism, followed by environmental information processing, cellular processes, and genetic information processing. Our findings will enrich the understanding of gut bacteria in <italic>C. medinalis</italic> and reveal the differences in gut microbiota in <italic>C. medinalis</italic> fed on different host plants for three generations.</p>