First Insight into Microbiome Profiles of Myrmecophilous Beetles and Their Host, Red Wood Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)-A Case Study.

belongs to the red wood ant species group. Its nests provide a stable, food rich, and temperature and humidity controlled environment, utilized by a wide range of species, called myrmecophiles. Here, we used the high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene on the Illumina platform for identification of the microbiome profiles of six selected myrmecophilous beetles (, , , , and ) and their host . Analyzed bacterial communities consisted of a total of 23 phyla, among which Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes were the most abundant. Two known endosymbionts- and -were found in the analyzed microbiome profiles and was dominant in bacterial communities associated with , , and (>90% of reads). In turn, was co-infected with both and , while in the microbiome of the dominance of has been observed. The relationships among the microbiome profiles were complex, and no relative abundance pattern common to all myrmecophilous beetles tested was observed. However, some subtle, species-specific patterns have been observed for bacterial communities associated with , , and