Changes in rearing conditions rapidly modify gut microbiota structure in Tenebrio molitor larvae

Abstract

The gut microbiota of multicellular organisms has been shown to play a key role in their host biology. In mammals, it has an invariant component, responsible for establishing a mutualistic relationship with the host. It also contains a dynamic fraction which facilitates adaptation in response to changes in the environment. These features have been well described in mammals, but little is known about microbiota stability or plasticity in insects. We assessed changes in microbiota composition and structure in a reared insect after a change in rearing conditions. We reared Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera, Tenebrioninae) larvae for five days in soil samples from two river banks and analyzed their gut microbial communities by a metabarcoding technique, using the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene and the housekeeping gene gyrB. We found that soil-reared insects had a significantly more diverse microbiota than the control insects and that insects reared in soil from different sites had significantly different microbiota. We confirmed this trend by absolute quantification of the two mains fluctuating taxonomic groups: the Enterobacteriaceae family and the Pseudomonas genus, dominant in the soil-reared insects and in the control insects, respectively. Our results suggest the existence of a resident microbiota in T. molitor gut, but indicate that rearing changes can induce rapid and profound changes in the relative abundance of some of the members of this resident microbiota.