1. Gut Bacterial Communities in the Ground Beetle Carabus convexus.
- Author
-
Magura, Tibor, Mizser, Szabolcs, Horváth, Roland, Tóth, Mária, Kozma, Ferenc Sándor, Kádas, János, and Lövei, Gábor L.
- Subjects
- *
GROUND beetles , *GUT microbiome , *ALIMENTARY canal , *RIBOSOMAL RNA , *BACTERIAL communities - Abstract
Simple Summary: In symbiotic interactions, microorganisms associated with the intestinal tract, constituting the gut microbiome, are especially important, because they influence the life history and fitness of their host organisms. The gut microbiome of ground beetles, one of the most species-rich animal families, is poorly known, and research on sex-specific differences is almost completely missing. Investigating the gut bacterial microbiome of a widespread European carnivorous species, Carabus convexus, using next-generation high-throughput sequencing, we found 1138 different operational taxonomic units belonging to 21 bacterial phyla, 90 families, and 197 genera. One of the most abundant bacterial families and genera was previously not known from the digestive tracts of other ground beetle species. We also detected carbohydrate-degrading gut bacterial symbionts, which indicated possible plant feeding in this predatory species. Although the composition of the gut bacterial microbiome was not significantly different between the sexes, the gut symbionts showed more between-individual variability in females. This difference may result from the different mobility of sexes and the difference in reproductive investment. Biological interactions, including symbiotic ones, have vital roles in ecological and evolutionary processes. Microbial symbionts in the intestinal tracts, known as the gut microbiome, are especially important because they can fundamentally influence the life history, fitness, and competitiveness of their hosts. Studies on the gut-resident microorganisms of wild animals focus mainly on vertebrates, and studies on species-rich invertebrate taxa, such as ground beetles, are sparse. In fact, even among the species-rich genus Carabus, only the gut microbiome of two Asian species was studied, while results on European species are completely missing. Here, we investigated the gut bacterial microbiome of a widespread European Carabus species, targeting the V3 and V4 regions of the 16S ribosomal RNA genes by next-generation high-throughput sequencing. We identified 1138 different operational taxonomic units assigned to 21 bacterial phyla, 90 families, and 197 genera. Members of the carbohydrate-degrading Prevotellaceae family, previously not detected in ground beetles, were the most abundant in the gut microbiome of the carnivorous C. convexus. Presumably, individuals from the studied wild populations also consume plant materials, especially fruits, and these carbohydrate-degrading bacterial symbionts can facilitate both the consumption and the digestion of these supplementary foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF