Magura Tibor, Mizser Szabolcs, Horváth Roland, Tóth Mária, Kozma Ferenc Sándor, Kádas János, Lövei Gábor L
Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem Sq. 1, H-4032 Debrecen, Hungary.
HUN-REN-UD Anthropocene Ecology Research Group, University of Debrecen, Egyetem Sq. 1, H-4032 Debrecen, Hungary.
Insects. 2024 Aug 14;15(8):612. doi: 10.3390/insects15080612.
Biological interactions, including symbiotic ones, have vital roles in ecological and evolutionary processes. Microbial symbionts in the intestinal tracts, known as the gut microbiome, are especially important because they can fundamentally influence the life history, fitness, and competitiveness of their hosts. Studies on the gut-resident microorganisms of wild animals focus mainly on vertebrates, and studies on species-rich invertebrate taxa, such as ground beetles, are sparse. In fact, even among the species-rich genus , only the gut microbiome of two Asian species was studied, while results on European species are completely missing. Here, we investigated the gut bacterial microbiome of a widespread European species, targeting the V3 and V4 regions of the 16S ribosomal RNA genes by next-generation high-throughput sequencing. We identified 1138 different operational taxonomic units assigned to 21 bacterial phyla, 90 families, and 197 genera. Members of the carbohydrate-degrading Prevotellaceae family, previously not detected in ground beetles, were the most abundant in the gut microbiome of the carnivorous . Presumably, individuals from the studied wild populations also consume plant materials, especially fruits, and these carbohydrate-degrading bacterial symbionts can facilitate both the consumption and the digestion of these supplementary foods.
生物相互作用，包括共生相互作用，在生态和进化过程中起着至关重要的作用。肠道中的微生物共生体，即肠道微生物群，尤为重要，因为它们能从根本上影响宿主的生活史、适应性和竞争力。对野生动物肠道内微生物的研究主要集中在脊椎动物上，而对物种丰富的无脊椎动物类群（如步甲）的研究则很少。事实上，即使在物种丰富的属中，也只对两种亚洲物种的肠道微生物群进行了研究，而关于欧洲物种的研究结果则完全缺失。在这里，我们通过下一代高通量测序，针对一种分布广泛的欧洲物种的16S核糖体RNA基因的V3和V4区域，研究了其肠道细菌微生物群。我们鉴定出了1138个不同的操作分类单元，它们分属于21个细菌门、90个科和197个属。在肉食性步甲的肠道微生物群中，以前在步甲中未检测到的碳水化合物降解普雷沃氏菌科的成员最为丰富。据推测，来自所研究野生种群的个体也会食用植物性物质，尤其是水果，而这些碳水化合物降解细菌共生体可以促进这些补充食物的摄取和消化。
