Zheng Zhou, Hu Xin, Xu Yang, Wei Cong, He Hong
College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China.
Key Laboratory of Plant Protection Resources and Pest Management, Ministry of Education, College of Plant Protection, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China.
Insects. 2021 Feb 17;12(2):176. doi: 10.3390/insects12020176.
Ponerine ants are generalist predators feeding on a variety of small arthropods, annelids, and isopods; however, knowledge of their bacterial communities is rather limited. This study investigated the bacterial composition and diversity in the digestive tract (different gut sections and the infrabuccal pockets (IBPs)) of two ponerine ant species ( Emery and Mayr) distributed in northwestern China using high-throughput sequencing. We found that several dominant bacteria that exist in other predatory ants were also detected in these two ponerine ant species, including , , and . Bacterial communities of these two ant species were differed significantly from each other, and significant differences were also observed across their colonies, showing distinctive inter-colony characteristics. Moreover, bacterial communities between the gut sections (crops, midguts, and hindguts) of workers were highly similar within colony, but they were clearly different from those in IBPs. Further, bacterial communities in the larvae of were similar to those in the IBPs of workers, but significantly different from those in gut sections. We presume that the bacterial composition and diversity in ponerine ants are related to their social behavior and feeding habits, and bacterial communities in the IBPs may play a potential role in their social life.
猛蚁是捕食多种小型节肢动物、环节动物和等足类动物的广食性捕食者；然而，关于它们细菌群落的知识相当有限。本研究利用高通量测序技术，调查了分布在中国西北部的两种猛蚁（埃氏猛蚁和迈氏猛蚁）消化道（不同肠道部位和口下囊（IBPs））中的细菌组成和多样性。我们发现，在这两种猛蚁中也检测到了其他捕食性蚂蚁中存在的几种优势细菌，包括[具体细菌名称未给出]、[具体细菌名称未给出]和[具体细菌名称未给出]。这两种蚂蚁的细菌群落彼此之间存在显著差异，并且在它们的蚁群之间也观察到了显著差异，呈现出独特的蚁群间特征。此外，工蚁肠道部位（嗉囊、中肠和后肠）之间的细菌群落在蚁群内高度相似，但与口下囊中的细菌群落明显不同。此外，埃氏猛蚁幼虫中的细菌群落与工蚁口下囊中的细菌群落相似，但与肠道部位的细菌群落显著不同。我们推测，猛蚁中的细菌组成和多样性与其社会行为和摄食习惯有关，口下囊中的细菌群落可能在它们的社会生活中发挥潜在作用。
