ena-STUDY-University Claude Bernard Lyon 1-08-05-2018-08:12:15:585-55
Co-occurrence patterns in the gut microbiota of a specialist herbivore and its host plant from natural populations
Understanding of the ecological factors that shape intraspecific variation in insect microbiota in natural populations is still relatively poor. In Lepidopteran larvae, microbiota is assumed to be mainly composed of transient bacterial symbionts acquired from the host plant. We sampled Glanville fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) butterfly larvae in a natural population to identify the environmental and ecological factors that determine the structure of the microbial community, including the possible link between host plant and butterfly microbiota. The microbiota composition was highly variable even among larvae that shared the same host plant individual. Variation in microbiota composition could be attributed to only limited extent to measurable properties of the butterfly or the host plant, including the microbial and chemical composition of the plant, and whether the butterfly was parasitized or not. The main part of the unexplained variation related to Enterobacteriaceae, which dominated some microbial communities and were absent from others. Our results challenge those suggesting that the properties of the host plant are the major drivers of the microbiota communities of insect herbivores in natural populations.
Understanding of the ecological factors that shape intraspecific variation in insect microbiota in natural populations is still relatively poor. In Lepidopteran larvae, microbiota is assumed to be mainly composed of transient bacterial symbionts acquired from the host plant. We sampled Glanville fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) butterfly larvae in a natural population to identify the environmental and ecological factors that determine the structure of the microbial community, including the possible link between host plant and butterfly microbiota. The microbiota composition was highly variable even among larvae that shared the same host plant individual. Variation in microbiota composition could be attributed to only limited extent to measurable properties of the butterfly or the host plant, including the microbial and chemical composition of the plant, and whether the butterfly was parasitized or not. The main part of the unexplained variation related to Enterobacteriaceae, which dominated some microbial communities and were absent from others. Our results challenge those suggesting that the properties of the host plant are the major drivers of the microbiota communities of insect herbivores in natural populations.