Pyrosequencing reveals a shift in symbiotic bacteria populations across life stages of Bactrocera dorsalis

Awawing A. Andongma, Lun Wan, Yong Cheng Dong, Ping Li, Nicolas Desneux, Jennifer A. White, Chang Ying Niu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

86 Scopus citations

Abstract

Bactrocera dorsalis is one of the most economically important fruit flies around the world. In this study, 454 pyrosequencing was used to identify the bacteria associated with different developmental stages of B. dorsalis. At ≥ 97% nucleotide similarity, total reads could be assigned to 172 Operational Taxonomic Units belonging to six phyla. Proteobacteria dominated in immature stages while Firmicutes dominated in adult stages. The most abundant families were Enterococcaceae and Comamondaceae. The genus Comamonas was most abundant in pupae whereas completely absent in adults. Some identified species had low sequence similarity to reported species indicating the possibility of novel taxa. However, a majority sequence reads were similar to sequences previously identified to be associated with Bactrocera correcta, suggesting a characteristic microbial fauna for this insect genus. The type and abundance of different bacterial groups varied across the life stages of B. dorsalis. Selection pressure exerted by the host insect as a result of its habitat and diet choices could be the reason for the observed shift in the bacteria groups. These findings increase our understanding of the intricate symbiotic relationships between bacteria and B. dorsalis and provide clues to develop potential biocontrol techniques against this fruit fly.

Original languageEnglish
Article number9470
JournalScientific Reports
Volume5
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Nature Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 31071690, 31371945), International Atomic Energy Agency (via Research Contract No. 17153 to CN), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2011PY055), and Excellent Curriculum Development for Postgraduate Students of Huazhong Agricultural University (2011KC01).

FundersFunder number
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)31071690, 31371945
International Atomic Energy Agency17153
Huazhong Agricultural University2011KC01
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities2011PY055

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General

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