ArticleFrontiers in microbiology2016
The Generalist Inside the Specialist: Gut Bacterial Communities of Two Insect Species Feeding on Toxic Plants Are Dominated by Enterococcus sp.
Article in Frontiers in microbiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 79 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
79 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Dietary Utilization Drives the Differentiation of Gut Bacterial Communities between Specialist and Generalist Drosophilid Flies.Microbiology spectrum · 2022Pooled it
- Food nutrition and facultative endosymbiont modulate dietary breadth of a polyphagous aphid.Insect science · 2026Article
- Multifunctional Properties of the Gut Symbiont Enterococcus gallinarum Associated With Eudocima materna Caterpillars in Host Plant Detoxification.Journal of basic microbiology · 2026Article
- Transmisssion Dynamics of Enterococcus spp. Throughout the Heliconius erato phyllis (Lepidoptera; Nymphalidae) Life Cycle.Environmental microbiology reports · 2026Article
- Evolution, multifunctionality, and agricultural potential of insect microbiomes and the holobiont concept.The ISME journal · 2026Review
- Multi-omics comparison of two emerging storage pests (Necrobia rufipes and Tribolium castaneum) of dried black soldier fly larvae product.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Assessing gut microbiota diversity and functional potential in resistant and susceptible strains of the mediterranean fruit fly.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Microbial Symbiosis in Lepidoptera: Analyzing the Gut Microbiota for Sustainable Pest Management.Biology · 2025Review
- Gut symbiotic bacteria enhance reproduction in Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) by regulating juvenile hormone III and 20-hydroxyecdysone pathways.Microbiome · 2025Article
- Longitudinal dynamics of intestinal bacteria in the life cycle and their effects on growth and development of potato tuber moth.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Microorganism Diversity Found inInsects · 2024Article
- Gut bacteria of lepidopteran herbivores facilitate digestion of plant toxins.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Role of Gut Bacteria in Enhancing Host Adaptation ofInsects · 2024Article
- Metagenomic profiling of gut microbiota in Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) larvae fed on different host plants.BMC microbiology · 2024Article
- Gut microbial changes in a specialist blister beetle larvae and their nutritional metabolic characteristics.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Unearthing Lactococcus lactis and Scheffersomyeces symbionts from edible wood-boring beetle larvae as a bio-resource for industrial applications.BMC microbiology · 2024Article
- Effect ofInsects · 2024Article
- Gut Microbial Diversity Reveals Differences in Pathogenicity betweenMicroorganisms · 2024Article
- Bacterial biota associated with the invasive insect pest Tuta absoluta (Meyrick).Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Isolation and identification of bacteria from the invasive pest Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) and evaluation of their biocontrol potential.International microbiology : the official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology · 2024Article
19 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Some specialist insects feed on plants rich in secondary compounds, which pose a major selective pressure on both the phytophagous and the gut microbiota. However, microbial communities of toxic plant feeders are still poorly characterized. Here, we show the bacterial communities of the gut of two specialized Lepidoptera, Hyles euphorbiae and Brithys crini, which exclusively feed on latex-rich Euphorbia sp. and alkaloid-rich Pancratium maritimum, respectively. A metagenomic analysis based on high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that the gut microbiota of both insects is dominated by the phylum Firmicutes, and especially by the common gut inhabitant Enterococcus sp. Staphylococcus sp. are also found in H. euphorbiae though to a lesser extent. By scanning electron microscopy, we found a dense ring-shaped bacterial biofilm in the hindgut of H. euphorbiae, and identified the most prominent bacterium in the biofilm as Enterococcus casseliflavus through molecular techniques. Interestingly, this species has previously been reported to contribute to the immobilization of latex-like molecules in the larvae of Spodoptera litura, a highly polyphagous lepidopteran. The E. casseliflavus strain was isolated from the gut and its ability to tolerate natural latex was tested under laboratory conditions. This fact, along with the identification of less frequent bacterial species able to degrade alkaloids and/or latex, suggest a putative role of bacterial communities in the tolerance of specialized insects to their toxic diet.
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