Gut bacterial diversity and physiological traits of Anastrepha fraterculus Brazilian-1 morphotype males are affected by antibiotic treatment

Abstract

BackgroundThe interaction between gut bacterial symbionts and Tephritidae became the focus of several studies that showed that bacteria contributed to the nutritional status and the reproductive potential of its fruit fly hosts. Anastrepha fraterculus is an economically important fruit pest in South America. This pest is currently controlled by insecticides, which prompt the development of environmentally friendly methods such as the sterile insect technique (SIT). For SIT to be effective, a deep understanding of the biology and sexual behavior of the target species is needed. Although many studies have contributed in this direction, little is known about the composition and role of A. fraterculus symbiotic bacteria. In this study we tested the hypothesis that gut bacteria contribute to nutritional status and reproductive success of A. fraterculus males.ResultsAB affected the bacterial community of the digestive tract of A. fraterculus, in particular bacteria belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family, which was the dominant bacterial group in the control flies (i.e., non-treated with AB). AB negatively affected parameters directly related to the mating success of laboratory males and their nutritional status. AB also affected males’ survival under starvation conditions. The effect of AB on the behaviour and nutritional status of the males depended on two additional factors: the origin of the males and the presence of a proteinaceous source in the diet.ConclusionsOur results suggest that A. fraterculus males gut contain symbiotic organisms that are able to exert a positive contribution on A. fraterculus males’ fitness, although the physiological mechanisms still need further studies.

Attractiveness and Sexual Competitiveness of Anastrepha obliqua Males (Diptera: Tephritidae) Fed on a Diet Enriched With Providencia rettgeri

“…Although a significant difference was not found, we observed that the release of (Z)-3-nonenol, nonadienol, sesquiterpene and (E-Z)-α-farnesene consistently increased when the males were fed with food enriched with P. rettgeri . In this way, Juárez et al (2019) reported ten volatile compounds identified in Anastrepha fraterculus males, and they were significantly affected by the diet. They found that sugar fed males were significantly affected in all compounds released with exception of limonene, suspensolide, E, β-ocimene and unknown compound.…”

“…In addition, studies have determined the presence of Wolbachia in Anastrepha species ( Mateos et al, 2020 ), including guava fruit fly, A. striata ( Martínez et al, 2012 ), West Indian fruit fly, A. obliqua ( Mascarenhas et al, 2016 ), South American fruit fly, A. fraterculus ( Conte et al, 2019 ) and sapote fruit fruit fly, A. serpentina ( Coscrato et al, 2009 ). On the other hand, studies have revealed that the gut bacterial community in flies consists mainly of species of the Enterobacteriaceae family ( Noman et al, 2020 ), and that these microorganisms may be involved in nitrogen fixation, nutrition and insect fitness, including mating behavior and sexual competitiveness, reproductive success, longevity, improve the males fitnnes ( Gavriel et al, 2011 ; Hamden et al, 2013 ; Andongma et al, 2015 ; Khaeso et al, 2017 ; Yuval, 2017 ; Juárez et al, 2019 ), protection against pathogens and detoxification ( Ben-Yosef et al, 2015 ; Guo et al, 2017 ).…”

Mate choice confers direct benefits to females of Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera: Tephritidae)

“…These experimental arenas have been extensively used in A . fraterculus as a valid experimental approach to study female mate choice [42–44,51,52]. Males were marked on their thorax with a dot of non-toxic, water-based paint for identification [50].…”

Gut Bacteriome Analysis of Anastrepha fraterculus sp. 1 During the Early Steps of Laboratory Colonization

“…Total DNA extractions of gut samples were performed following Juárez et al (2019) based on the procedure described by Baruffi et al (1995) with the following modifications related to sample size: (i) all volumes were reduced to half; (ii) final elution was reduced to 10 µL of TE buffer (Tris base 10 mM; EDTA 1 mM, pH 8.1). Briefly, five guts were ground and incubated (65 • C) in a lysis buffer (NaCl 100 mM, Sucrose 200 mM, Tris-HCl pH 9.1 100 mM, EDTA 50 mM, SDS 0.5%) with proteinase K (final concentration of 100 µg/ml) (USB).…”

“…In particular, mass rearing protocols (Salles, 1999;Jaldo et al, 2001;Sobrinho et al, 2006;Vera et al, 2007;Walder et al, 2014), irradiation procedures (Allinghi et al, 2007a,b) and behavioral and physiological studies to improve the competitiveness of sterile males (Segura et al, 2007(Segura et al, , 2009(Segura et al, , 2013Abraham et al, 2011Abraham et al, , 2013Liendo et al, 2013;Vera et al, 2013;Bachmann et al, 2015Bachmann et al, , 2017Bachmann et al, , 2019 have been addressed. Nonetheless, previous studies seldom considered A. fraterculus as a multiorganismal entity and only Juárez et al (2019) focused on the importance of gut bacteria in A. fraterculus sp. 1 physiology and behavior.…”