Publisher: NPG; Journal: Nature: Nature; Article Type: Biology letter DOI: 10.1038/nature06269 Metagenomic and functional analysis of hindgut microbiota of a wood-feeding higher termite Falk Warnecke 1 *, Peter Luginbuhl 2 *, Natalia Ivanova 1 , Majid Ghassemian 2 , Toby H. Richardson 2 †, Justin T. Stege 2 , Michelle Cayouette 2 †, Alice C. McHardy 3 †, Gordana Djordjevic 2 , Nahla Aboushadi 2 , Rotem Sorek 1 , Susannah G. Tringe 1 , Mircea Podar 4 , Hector Garcia Martin 1 , Victor Kunin 1 , Daniel Dalevi 1 , Julita Madejska 1 , Edward Kirton 1 , Darren Platt 1 , Ernest Szeto 1 , Asaf Salamov 1 , Kerrie Barry 1 , Natalia Mikhailova 1 , Nikos C. Kyrpides 1 , Eric G. Matson 5 , Elizabeth A. Ottesen 6 , Xinning Zhang 5 , Myriam Hernandez 7 , Catalina Murillo 7 , Luis G. Acosta 7 , Isidore Rigoutsos 3 , Giselle Tamayo 7 , Brian D. Green 2 , Cathy Chang 2 †, Edward M. Rubin 1 , Eric J. Mathur 2 †, Dan E. Robertson 2 , Philip Hugenholtz 1 & Jared R. Leadbetter 5 * DOE Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA. 2 Verenium Corporation (formerly Diversa), 4955 Directors Place, San Diego, California 92121, USA. 3 IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, PO Box 218, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA. 4 Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6026, USA. 5 Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Division of Biology, Mailcode 138-78, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA. INBio, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, Apdo. Postal 22-3100 Santo Domingo de Heredia, Costa Rica. †Present addresses: Synthetic Genomics, Inc., 11149 North Torrey Pines Road, Suite 100, La Jolla, California 92037, USA (T.H.R., E.J.M.); Max Planck Institute for Computer Science, Stuhlsatzenhausweg 85, 66123 Saarbrucken, Germany (A.C.M.); Stratagene, 11011 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, USA (M.C.); E. O. Wilson Foundation, 10190 Telesis Court, San Diego, California 92121, USA (C.C.). *These authors contributed equally to this work. From the standpoints of both basic research and biotechnology, there is considerable interest in reaching a clearer understanding of the diversity of biological mechanisms employed during lignocellulose degradation. Globally, termites are an extremely successful group of wood-degrading organisms 1 and are therefore important both for their roles in carbon turnover in the environment and as potential sources of biochemical catalysts for efforts aimed at converting wood into biofuels. Only recently have data supported any direct role for the symbiotic bacteria in the gut of the termite in cellulose and xylan hydrolysis 2 . Here we use a metagenomic analysis of the bacterial community resident in the hindgut paunch of a wood-feeding Nasutitermes species to show the presence of a large, diverse set of bacterial genes for cellulose and xylan hydrolysis. Many of these genes were expressed in vivo or had cellulase activity in vitro, and further analyses implicate spirochete and fibrobacter species in gut lignocellulose degradation. New insights into other important Page 1 of 33

Metagenomic and functional analysis of hindgut microbiota of a wood-feeding higher termite

In recent years, next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have helped to improve our understanding of the bacterial communities associated with insects, shedding light on their wide taxonomic and functional diversity. To date, little is known about the microbiota of lepidopterans, which includes some of the most damaging agricultural and forest pests worldwide. Studying their microbiota could help us better understand their ecology and offer insights into developing new pest control strategies. In this paper, we review the literature pertaining to the microbiota of lepidopterans with a focus on pests, and highlight potential recurrent patterns regarding microbiota structure and composition.

New Insights into the Microbiota of Moth Pests

Microbiota associated with Bactrocera carambolae and B. dorsalis (Insecta: Tephritidae) revealed by next-generation sequencing of 16S rRNA gene

Nanomaterials composed of natural matrices associated with biopesticides have promising applications in sustainable agriculture. In this study, the biopesticide neem oil was encapsulated in zein nanoparticles in order to improve its stability and efficiency. Assays of phytotoxicity (using Phaseolus vulgaris) and biological activity against three pests (Acanthoscelides obtectus, Bemisia tabaci, and Tetranychus urticae) were also performed. The neem oil-loaded zein nanoparticles presented 198 ± 16 nm, polydispersity index of around 0.2, satisfactory physicochemical stability, together with high encapsulation efficiency (> 80%). Pre- and postemergence treatments using this new system did not cause any phytotoxic effects toward P. vulgaris. The neem oil nanobiopesticide exhibited mortality effects on B. tabaci and T. urticae, while the effect against A. obtectus was significantly increased, compared to plain neem oil. The results of the characterization, toxicity, and biological activity studies showed the promising potential of these neem oil-loaded zein nanoparticles for the use in pest management in sustainable agriculture after the required toxicological assessments.

The potential of nanobiopesticide based on zein nanoparticles and neem oil for enhanced control of agricultural pests

Gut bacteria are closely associated with host. Chrysomya megacephala, as a vector and resource insect, can transmit various pathogenic bacteria and consume manure to produce biofertilizer and larva biomass. However, the gut bacteria composition and abundance of C. megacephala remain unclear. Illumina MiSeq platform was used to compare composition of gut bacterial community in eggs, 1-day-old larvae, 5-day-old larvae, pupae, adult females and males by sequencing with variation in V4 region of 16S ribosomal DNA gene. In total, 928 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were obtained. These OTUs were annotated into 19 phyla, 42 classes, 77 orders, 153 families and 289 genera. More than 0.5% abundance of 32 OTU core genera were found across all life stages. At class level, Alphaproteobacteria, Bacilli, Bacteroidia, Betaproteobacteria, Flavobacteriia and Gammaproteobacteria were the most abundant in C. megacephala. Eight species were identified to have significantly different abundance between 1-d-larvae and 5-day-larvae and took 28.95% of shared species between these two groups. Sex-specific bacterial species were identified that Faecalibacterium prausnitzii was merely present in females, while Rhodococcus fascians was merely present in males. Gut bacteria of C. megacephala varied across life stages. The composition and community structure of the bacterial community differed from young larvae to mature larvae, while that were similar in adult females and males. These data will provide an overall view of bacterial community across life stages in C. megacephala with attention on manure associated and pathogenic bacteria.

/pdf/the-gut-bacteria-across-life-stages-in-the-synanthropic-fly-4wu2aoui9r.pdf

The gut bacteria across life stages in the synanthropic fly Chrysomya megacephala

Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), a polyphagous agricultural pest of global importance, harbour diverse bacterial communities in its gut. We analysed the composition and diversity of gut bacteria using Illumina Next-Generation Sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA amplicons. The data set consisted of 864,813 high-quality paired end sequences with mean length of 150 base pairs. Highly diverse bacterial communities were present in the sample containing approximately 2303 operational taxonomic units (OTUs). A total of 17 bacterial phyla, 34 classes, 84 orders, 173 families, 334 genera, and 707 species were identified from the sequence analysis. Actinobacteria was the most dominant groups, followed by Proteobacteria and Firmicutes . The search on function of different gut inhabiting bacteria of H. armigera revealed their role in nutrition, detoxification of lethal insecticide molecules, and defensive action against pathogens. Insecticidal toxin producing bacterial species were also found associated with the H. armigera gut .

Bacterial communities associated with the gut of tomato fruit borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) based on Illumina Next-Generation Sequencing

With the help of life table construction, which derives the net-reproductive rate, mean time of generation and the survivorship curve, one can classify the insects into pest or as non-pest. This pa...

Banana (Musa spp.)-an unseen umbrella crop? Insect diversity on Musa spp. in the Indo-Pacific region

Silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), is one of the most notorious invasive insect pests, infesting more than 900 species of plants and spreading more than 200 v...

/pdf/next-generation-sequencing-reveals-endosymbiont-variability-22ll3aoxqc.pdf

Next-generation sequencing reveals endosymbiont variability in cassava whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, across the agro-ecological zones of Kerala, India.

The silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, is the main limiting factor in the production of one of the most important tuber crops in the world, cassava The cassava mosaic virus transmitted by the insect causes cassava mosaic disease and it accounts for about 40% reduction in the tuber yield The present study evaluates the presence of different genetic groups, using morphometric variations among whitefly populations collected from all agro-ecological zones of Kerala, India Studying fourteen different pupal characters and nine different adult characters could not establish significant variations in most of the characters studied, between these agro-ecological zones But, the principal component analysis revealed the presence of more variations in populations collected from Sulthan Bathery compared to others Further molecular studies using the populations could provide a clear cut idea about the presence of different genetic groups/ biotypes in these regions

https://isrc.in/ojs/index.php/jrc/article/download/423/309

Morphometric Variations in Cassava ( Manihot esculenta Crantz) Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) from different Agro-Ecological Zones of Kerala, India

The study was conducted to isolate potential bacteria and fungi from soil, cow dung and to study their pathogenicity on the most important pest of cassava, cassava whitefly (Bemisia tabaci). Entomopathogenic microbes were isolated from rhizosphere soil and cowdung, and their pathogenicity was tested against Bemisia tabaci. Microbes showing promising results were subjected to DNA extraction and PCR study; subsequently sequenced for isolate identification. The Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis of sequences identified the bacterial isolates as Bacillus cereus and B. pumilus, and fungus as Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and Penicillium citrinum.

https://www.entomoljournal.com/archives/2019/vol7issue6/PartK/7-6-52-893.pdf

E.R. Harish

Papers

Bacterial communities associated with the gut of tomato fruit borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) based on Illumina Next-Generation Sequencing

Banana (Musa spp.)-an unseen umbrella crop? Insect diversity on Musa spp. in the Indo-Pacific region

Next-generation sequencing reveals endosymbiont variability in cassava whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, across the agro-ecological zones of Kerala, India.

Morphometric Variations in Cassava ( Manihot esculenta Crantz) Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) from different Agro-Ecological Zones of Kerala, India

Screening potential microbes against whitefly (Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius)), the most important pest of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz)