Geng Jin, Sui Zhuoxiao, Dou Weihao, Miao Yunheng, Wang Tao, Wei Xunfan, Chen Sicong, Zhang Zongqi, Xiao Jinhua, Huang Dawei
Institute of Entomology, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
Front Microbiol. 2022 May 16;13:892767. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.892767. eCollection 2022.
Insects have a long history of being used in medicine, with clear primary and secondary functions and less side effects, and the study and exploitation of medicinal insects have received increasing attention. Insects gut microbiota and their metabolites play an important role in protecting the hosts from other potentially harmful microbes, providing nutrients, promoting digestion and degradation, and regulating growth and metabolism of the hosts. However, there are still few studies linking the medicinal values of insects with their gut microbes. In this study, we focused on the specific gut microbiota common to medicinal insects, hoping to trace the potential connection between medicinal values and gut microbes of medicinal insects. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing data, we compared the gut microbiota of medicinal insects [, () (Lewis) and ], in their medicinal stages, and non-medicinal insects ( L., , and ), and found that the intestinal microbial richness of medicinal insects was higher, and there were significant differences in the microbial community structure between the two groups. We established a model using a random-forest method to preliminarily screen out several types of gut microbiota common to medicinal insects that may play medicinal values: , , subsp. (), and . In particular, and were most probably involved in the anti-inflammatory effects of medicinal insects. Our results revealed an association between medicinal insects and their gut microbes, providing new development directions and possibly potential tools for utilizing microbes to enhance the medicinal efficacy of medicinal insects.
昆虫用于医学的历史悠久，其主要和次要功能明确且副作用较小，对药用昆虫的研究与开发日益受到关注。昆虫肠道微生物群及其代谢产物在保护宿主免受其他潜在有害微生物侵害、提供营养、促进消化和降解以及调节宿主生长和代谢方面发挥着重要作用。然而，将昆虫的药用价值与其肠道微生物联系起来的研究仍然很少。在本研究中，我们聚焦于药用昆虫共有的特定肠道微生物群，希望探寻药用昆虫药用价值与肠道微生物之间的潜在联系。基于16S rRNA基因测序数据，我们比较了药用昆虫[，（刘易斯）和]处于药用阶段时的肠道微生物群与非药用昆虫（L.，，和）的肠道微生物群，发现药用昆虫的肠道微生物丰富度更高，且两组之间的微生物群落结构存在显著差异。我们使用随机森林方法建立了一个模型，初步筛选出几种可能具有药用价值的药用昆虫共有的肠道微生物群类型：，，亚种（）和。特别是，和很可能参与了药用昆虫的抗炎作用。我们的研究结果揭示了药用昆虫与其肠道微生物之间的关联，为利用微生物提高药用昆虫的药用功效提供了新的发展方向和可能的潜在工具。
