North American fireflies host low bacterial diversity

Abstract

Although there are numerous studies of fireflies’ mating flashes, lantern bioluminescence, and anti-predation lucibufagin metabolites, almost nothing is known about their microbiome. We therefore used 16S rRNA community amplicon sequencing to characterize the gut and body microbiomes of four North American firefly species: Ellychnia corrusca, Photuris sp., Pyractomena borealis, and Pyropyga sp. These firefly microbiomes all have very low species diversity, often dominated by a single species, and each firefly species has a characteristic microbiome. Although the microbiomes of male and female fireflies did not differ, Photuris sp. gut and body microbiomes did, with their gut microbiomes being enriched in Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter. E. corrusca egg and adult microbiomes differed except for a single egg microbiome that shared a community type with E. corrusca adults, which could suggest microbial transmission from mother to offspring. Mollicutes that had been previously isolated from fireflies were common in our firefly microbiomes. These results set the stage for further research concerning focus on the function and transmission of these bacterial symbionts.

Microbial diversity and abundance in the hot springs on the west coast of Saudi Arabia as a potential source of novel industrial products

“…Sterol is required for the growth of the majority of mycoplasmas. In this case, they have the lowest relative abundance (Borroni et al 2019;Green et al 2021). In conclusion, data can demonstrate that nutrient-depleted soil environments are extensively colonized by microorganisms capable of actively participating in various biogeochemical cycles, particularly the nitrogen cycle.…”

Host condition and pathogen identity influence bacterial infection survival in the common eastern firefly, Photinus pyralis

“…These bacteria are all thought to primarily replicate extracellularly, are mostly Gram‐negative bacterium with Dap‐type peptidoglycan (with the exception of E. faecalis which is a Gram‐positive bacterium with Lys‐type peptidoglycan), and were primarily selected due to their ability to cause mortality at low infectious doses (<10,000 CFU) in other insects (reviewed in Troha & Buchon, 2019). Pseudomonas and Serratia were selected due to the association of these genera with other firefly species (Green et al, 2021). In the absence of information about the specific bacterial species and strains associated with fireflies, for each of these genera we selected one commonly used species in pathogenicity studies both in insects and mammalian systems (Brandt & Schneider, 2007; Corby‐Harris et al, 2007; D'Argenio et al, 2001; Nehme et al, 2007; Samakovlis et al, 1990; Short & Lazzaro, 2010; Vincent & Sharp, 2014; Vodovar et al, 2005; Wong et al, 2011).…”

“…Like many North American fireflies, P. pyralis spends up to 2 years in the larval stage, emerging from a subterranean pupa mid‐summer. Larvae live on or in the soil, where they likely encounter a diverse microbial community in the substrate as well as through their earthworm prey, including bacteria in the genera Serratia and Pseudomonas (Green et al, 2021). Larvae are also susceptible to bacterial and fungal infections that impede lab culture (Fallon et al, 2018; Foo et al, 2017; McLean et al, 1972).…”

Trachymyrmex septentrionalis ant microbiome assembly is unique to individual colonies and castes

“…Some pupae were ethanol-washed and others were not to determine if the Tenericute symbionts were located on their exoskeleton or internally. DNA was extracted from these surface-cleaned ants using the bead-beating and chloroform-isopropanol protocol described previously (35,38). Our preliminary data showed minimal differences between microbiomes generated using whole surface-cleaned ants and ant guts, and so we used whole, surface-cleaned ants throughout this 8 study for simplicity (Suppl.…”