ArticleBMC research notes2013
Analysis of the gut microbiota of walking sticks (Phasmatodea).
Article in BMC research notes, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- When Small Meets Smaller: Immune Modulation and Virulence Strategies in Insect-Bacteria Interactions.Insects · 2026Review
- Characterization of Gut Bacteria inInsects · 2026Article
- A High-Fat-Diet-Induced Microbiota Imbalance Correlates with Oxidative Stress and the Inflammatory Response in the Gut of Freshwater Drum (Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Microbial associates of the elm leaf beetle: uncovering the absence of resident bacteria and the influence of fungi on insect performance.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- Analogous assembly mechanisms and functional guilds govern prokaryotic communities in mangrove ecosystems of China and South America.Microbiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Symbioses shape feeding niches and diversification across insects.Nature ecology & evolution · 2023Article
- Influence of native and exotic plant diet on the gut microbiome of the Gray's Malayan stick insect,Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- Cytochrome P450 Genes Expressed in Phasmatodea Midguts.Insects · 2022Article
- Effects of diet, habitat, and phylogeny on the fecal microbiome of wild African savanna (Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
- Evolutionary and ecological consequences of gut microbial communities.Annual review of ecology, evolution, and systematics · 2019Article
- No evidence that gut microbiota impose a net cost on their butterfly host.Molecular ecology · 2019Article
- Dietary supplementation of black soldier fly (PeerJ · 2019Article
- Antarctic Krill Are Reservoirs for Distinct Southern Ocean Microbial Communities.Frontiers in microbiology · 2018Article
- Caterpillars lack a resident gut microbiome.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2017Article
- Winding paths to simplicity: genome evolution in facultative insect symbionts.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2016Review
- Horizontal Gene Transfer of Pectinases from Bacteria Preceded the Diversification of Stick and Leaf Insects.Scientific reports · 2016Article
- Article
- Article
- Differential expression of endogenous plant cell wall degrading enzyme genes in the stick insect (Phasmatodea) midgut.BMC genomics · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLittle is known about the Phasmatodea gut microbial community, including whether phasmids have symbiotic bacteria aiding in their digestion. While symbionts are near ubiquitous in herbivorous insects, the Phasmatodea's distinctively thin body shape precludes the gut enlargements needed for microbial fermentation. High-throughput sequencing was used to characterize the entire microbiota of the fat bodies, salivary glands, and anterior and posterior midguts of two species of walking stick.
resultsMost bacterial sequences belonged to a strain of Spiroplasma (Tenericutes) found primarily in the posterior midgut of the parthenogenetic species Ramulus artemis (Phasmatidae). Beyond this, no significant differences were found between the R. artemis midgut sections or between that species and Peruphasma schultei (Pseudophasmatidae). Histological analysis further indicated a lack of bacteriocytes.
conclusionsPhasmids are unlikely to depend on bacteria for digestion, suggesting they produce enzymes endogenously that most other herbivorous insects obtain from symbionts. This conclusion matches predictions based on phasmid anatomy. The role of Spiroplasma in insects warrants further study.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.