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Plant-Insect Ecosystems

10-Minute Paper

P-IE: Invasive Species On-Demand Presentations

Influence of host plants on the diversity of gut microbiota communities of fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

On-Demand
On-Demand

    Presenting Author(s)

  • JU

    Juliana A. Ugwu

    Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria
    Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria

    • Co-Author(s)

  • FA

    Fred 0. Asiegbu

    University of Helsinki
    Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland

The gut bacteria of insects influence the physiology of their host positively, although their mechanism is not yet understood.  This study characterized the microbiome of the gut of Spodoptera frugiperda  larvae fed with nine different host plants; sugar cane, maize, onion, cucumber, tomato, sweet potato,  cabbage, green amaranth, and celocia (referred to M1, M2, M3, R1. R2. R3.  L1. L2. L3 respectively) by sequencing the theV3-V4 hypervariable region of the16S rRNA gene using Illumina PE250 NovaSeq system. The results revealed that the gut bacterial composition varied among larvae samples that were fed on different host plants. Alpha diversity index revealed that gut bacterial diversity of S. frugiperda were highly significant among the various samples.  Five bacteria phyla (Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes) were prevalent across the larvae samples fed with the host plants. Firmicutes  (44.1%) was the most dominant phylum followed by Protobacteria (28.5%). Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) analyses showed that S. frugiperda  larvae fed with different host plants were enriched by diverse bacteria groups.  Celocia (L3) and sweet potato(R3) were enriched in phylum Firmicutes by 15.1% and 14.2 % respectively while green amaranth (L2) and sugar cane(M1) were enriched in protobacteria by 18.5% and 14.3% respectively.  Our findings indicate that host plant is a major driver shaping insect gut microbiota. Further studies are needed to assess the mechanisms of the variations in insect microbiomes and the ecological implications of this variability in S. frugiperda larvae gut microbiota