Functional Variation in Dipteran Gut Bacterial Communities in Relation to Their Diet Life Cycle Stage and Habitat

摘要

Like in many other organisms, the guts of insects are full with many different bacteria. These bacteria can help their hosts to overcome toxic diets or can boost their resistance to pathogens. We were curious to learn which factors determine the composition of gut bacterial communities (GBCs) in true flies and mosquitoes, which belong to the order Diptera. We searched for research papers reporting on GBCs in these insects. Using these published data, we investigated whether the GBCs are species-specific, or whether they are determined by the diet, life stage or environment of the host insect. We found that the GBCs in larvae and adults of the same insect species can be very different. Insects on similar diets did not necessarily show similar GBCs. This made us conclude that GBCs are mostly life stage-specific. However, we found that the number of data papers we could use is limited; more data are needed to strengthen our conclusion. Lastly, novel DNA technologies can show ‘who is there’ in GBCs. At the same time, we lack knowledge on the exact function of gut bacteria. Obtaining more knowledge on the function of GBCs may help to design sustainable pest control measures.