ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2017
Caterpillars lack a resident gut microbiome.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 245 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
245 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 470 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Article
- From the leaf to the gut and back again: using synthetic bacterial communities to trace the fate and influence of phyllosphere bacteria in an Arabidopsis-Pieris brassicae system.Environmental microbiome · 2026Article
- Multifunctional Properties of the Gut Symbiont Enterococcus gallinarum Associated With Eudocima materna Caterpillars in Host Plant Detoxification.Journal of basic microbiology · 2026Article
- Diversity of theMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Environmental microbial communities and host selection shape larval microbiomes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Anthraquinones From Epicoccum sp., a Fungus Isolated From Gut of Dione juno That Feeds on Passifloras.Chemistry & biodiversity · 2026Article
- Gut microbiome of the grape berry moth,Microbial genomics · 2026Article
- When Small Meets Smaller: Immune Modulation and Virulence Strategies in Insect-Bacteria Interactions.Insects · 2026Review
- Metagenomic Analysis of Gut Microbiome Across Developmental Stage of Asian Corn Borer (Insects · 2026Article
- Dietary Specialisation Shapes Gut Bacterial Diversity in Dung Beetles: Insights From Coprophagy to Millipede Carnivory.Environmental microbiology reports · 2026Article
- Ecological Drivers of Microbiota Diversity in the Pharmacophagous Turnip Sawfly.Environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Maintenance of Gut Microbial Balance via the Kynurenine Pathway Improves Larval Performance and Resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis in Spodoptera exigua.MicrobiologyOpen · 2026Article
- The effects of dietary iron supplementation on bacterial infections inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A microbial view on secondary contact between two Alpine butterflies.BMC ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l. ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) harbor non-divergent bacterial microbiomes in Arizona.Journal of medical entomology · 2026Article
- Ecological and functional dynamics of gut microbiota in the model insect, silkworm Bombyx mori.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Review
- From leaves to aphid honeydew: the zucchini plants enrich bacterium to recruit natural enemy to resist herbivore attacks.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Article
- Arctic Insects Show a Highly Dynamic Microbiome Shaped by Abiotic and Biotic Variables.Microbial ecology · 2026Article
- Experimental evidence for the absence of a functional gut microbiome in the solitary bee Megachile tosticauda.FEMS microbiology letters · 2026Article
185 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many animals are inhabited by microbial symbionts that influence their hosts' development, physiology, ecological interactions, and evolutionary diversification. However, firm evidence for the existence and functional importance of resident microbiomes in larval Lepidoptera (caterpillars) is lacking, despite the fact that these insects are enormously diverse, major agricultural pests, and dominant herbivores in many ecosystems. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and quantitative PCR, we characterized the gut microbiomes of wild leaf-feeding caterpillars in the United States and Costa Rica, representing 124 species from 15 families. Compared with other insects and vertebrates assayed using the same methods, the microbes that we detected in caterpillar guts were unusually low-density and variable among individuals. Furthermore, the abundance and composition of leaf-associated microbes were reflected in the feces of caterpillars consuming the same plants. Thus, microbes ingested with food are present (although possibly dead or dormant) in the caterpillar gut, but host-specific, resident symbionts are largely absent. To test whether transient microbes might still contribute to feeding and development, we conducted an experiment on field-collected caterpillars of the model species
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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.