The power of poop: Defecation behaviors and social hygiene in insects

Cole, Marissa E; Ceja-Navarro, Javier A.; Mikaelyan, Aram

doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1009964

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The frass microbiome is the insect analogue to the faecal microbiome in vertebrates, though we note that the frass microbiome may include transient microbes from the fly gut (Adair et al, 2018). In Drosophila and many insects, frass is transmitted during oviposition and may be especially critical in the development of offspring (Blum et al, 2013;Metcalf et al, 2019;Schwab et al, 2016) or in the protection against disease (Cole et al, 2021;Koch & Schmid-Hempel, 2011). Microbial transmission itself is a trait that may also be under selection that impacts the evolutionary stability of host-microbe associations (Bruijning et al, 2021;Leftwich et al, 2020).…”

Section: Alternative Drivers Of Microbial Variation Across the Clinementioning

confidence: 99%

Drosophila melanogaster microbiome is shaped by strict filtering and neutrality along a latitudinal cline

Henry

Ayroles

2022

Molecular Ecology

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Microbiomes affect many aspects of host biology, but the eco-evolutionary forces that shape their diversity in natural populations remain poorly understood. Geographical gradients, such as latitudinal clines, generate predictable patterns in biodiversity at macroecological scales, but whether these macroscale processes apply to hostmicrobiome interactions is an open question. To address this question, we sampled the microbiomes of 13 natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster along a latitudinal cline in the eastern United States. The microbiomes were surprisingly consistent across the cline, as latitude did not predict either alpha or beta diversity. Only a narrow taxonomic range of bacteria were present in all microbiomes, indicating that strict taxonomic filtering by the host and neutral ecological dynamics are the primary factors shaping the fly microbiome. Our findings reveal the complexity of ecoevolutionary interactions shaping microbial variation in D. melanogaster and highlight the need for additional sampling of the microbiomes in natural populations along environmental gradients.

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Section: Alternative Drivers Of Microbial Variation Across the Clinementioning

confidence: 99%

Drosophila melanogaster microbiome is shaped by strict filtering and neutrality along a latitudinal cline

Henry

Ayroles

2022

Molecular Ecology

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“…We mentioned the termite active strategies, due to the presence of terpene as a selective metabolite in our study, with antimicrobial properties and secreted by Nasutitermes , as both evidenced in literature. The defensive or protective component of faeces was greatly reviewed by Cole, Ceja-Navarro, and Mikaelyan (2021). In our study, we infer that the combination of active strategies and passive constraints imposed by the feeding strategy create a specific growth-media for selected microorganisms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Termite diet rather than geographical origin determines the microbiome composition and functional genetic structure of nests from South American and African representatives, as revealed by a multiomics approach

Plaza

Hradecký

Šobotník

2022

Preprint

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Termites represent one of the most important insect groups worldwide due to their key role as plant decomposers and proxy of carbon recycling in the tropical rainforest ecosystems. Besides, high relevance in research has been given to these social insects due to a prominent role as urban pests. However, one of the most fascinating aspects of termites are their defence strategies that prevent the growth of detrimental microbiological strains on their nests. One success factor is the key role of the nest allied microbiome. Understanding how beneficial microbial strains aid termites in pathogen biocontrol strategies could provide us with an enhanced repertoire for fighting antimicrobial resistant strains or mine for genes for bioremediation purposes. We carried out a multiomics approach for dissecting the nest microbiome in a wide range of termite species, covering several feeding habits and three geographical locations at two tropical sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and an African savanna. Our experimental approach included untargeted volatile metabolomics, targeted evaluation of volatile naphthalene, taxonomical profile for bacteria and fungi through amplicon sequencing, and further dive into the genetic repertoire through a metagenomic sequencing approach. Volatile naphthalene was present in species belonging to the genera Nasutitermes and Cubitermes. We further assessed the apparent differences in terms of bacterial community structure, having found a stronger influence from feeding habits and genera, rather than the geographical location. Lastly, our metagenomic analysis revealed that the gene content provides both soil feeding genera with similar functional profiles, while the wood feeding genus shows a different one. These results seem to be independent of the geographical location, indicating that the nest functional profile is heavily influenced by the diet of the termite inhabiting, building, and maintaining the nest.

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“…We mentioned the termite active strategies because our study included terpene as a selective metabolite, which has antimicrobial properties and is secreted by Nasutitermes , as both are documented in the literature. The defensive or protective component of feces was greatly reviewed by Cole et al ( 2021 ). In our study, we inferred that the combination of active strategies and passive constraints imposed by the feeding strategy created a specific growth medium for selected microorganisms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The tropical cookbook: Termite diet and phylogenetics—Over geographical origin—Drive the microbiome and functional genetic structure of nests

Plaza

Hradecký

2023

Front. Microbiol.

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Termites are key decomposers of dead plant material involved in the organic matter recycling process in warm terrestrial ecosystems. Due to their prominent role as urban pests of timber, research efforts have been directed toward biocontrol strategies aimed to use pathogens in their nest. However, one of the most fascinating aspects of termites is their defense strategies that prevent the growth of detrimental microbiological strains in their nests. One of the controlling factors is the nest allied microbiome. Understanding how allied microbial strains protect termites from pathogen load could provide us with an enhanced repertoire for fighting antimicrobial-resistant strains or mining for genes for bioremediation purposes. However, a necessary first step is to characterize these microbial communities. To gain a deeper understanding of the termite nest microbiome, we used a multi-omics approach for dissecting the nest microbiome in a wide range of termite species. These cover several feeding habits and three geographical locations on two tropical sides of the Atlantic Ocean known to host hyper-diverse communities. Our experimental approach included untargeted volatile metabolomics, targeted evaluation of volatile naphthalene, a taxonomical profile for bacteria and fungi through amplicon sequencing, and further diving into the genetic repertoire through a metagenomic sequencing approach. Naphthalene was present in species belonging to the genera Nasutitermes and Cubitermes. We investigated the apparent differences in terms of bacterial community structure and discovered that feeding habits and phylogenetic relatedness had a greater influence than geographical location. The phylogenetic relatedness among nests' hosts influences primarily bacterial communities, while diet influences fungi. Finally, our metagenomic analysis revealed that the gene content provided both soil-feeding genera with similar functional profiles, while the wood-feeding genus showed a different one. Our results indicate that the nest functional profile is largely influenced by diet and phylogenetic relatedness, irrespective of geographical location.

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The power of poop: Defecation behaviors and social hygiene in insects

Cited by 15 publications

References 31 publications

Drosophila melanogaster microbiome is shaped by strict filtering and neutrality along a latitudinal cline

Drosophila melanogaster microbiome is shaped by strict filtering and neutrality along a latitudinal cline

Termite diet rather than geographical origin determines the microbiome composition and functional genetic structure of nests from South American and African representatives, as revealed by a multiomics approach

The tropical cookbook: Termite diet and phylogenetics—Over geographical origin—Drive the microbiome and functional genetic structure of nests

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