Microbiome turnover during offspring development varies with maternal care, but not moult, in a hemimetabolous insect

The ecological success of insects often depends on their association with beneficial microbes. However, insect development involves repeated moults, which can have dramatic effects on their microbial communities. Here, we investigated whether and how moulting affects the microbiome of a hemimetabolo...

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Main Authors: Cheutin, Marie-Charlotte, Boucicot, Manon, Meunier, Joël
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Peer Community In 2024-07-01
Series:Peer Community Journal
Online Access:https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.446/
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author Cheutin, Marie-Charlotte
Boucicot, Manon
Meunier, Joël
author_facet Cheutin, Marie-Charlotte
Boucicot, Manon
Meunier, Joël
author_sort Cheutin, Marie-Charlotte
collection DOAJ
description The ecological success of insects often depends on their association with beneficial microbes. However, insect development involves repeated moults, which can have dramatic effects on their microbial communities. Here, we investigated whether and how moulting affects the microbiome of a hemimetabolous insect, and whether maternal care can modulate these effects. We reared European earwig juveniles with or without mothers and used 16S rRNA metabarcoding to analyse the prokaryotic fraction of the core microbiome of eggs, recently and old moulted individuals at four developmental stages and the resulting adults. The 218 samples obtained showed that the microbiome diversity changed non-linearly during development and that these changes were associated with bacterial biomarkers. Surprisingly, these changes did not occur during moulting, but rather between the beginning and end of certain developmental stages. We also found that access to maternal care affected the microbiome of both juveniles and adults, even when the last contact with mothers was two months before adulthood. Overall, these results provide new insights into our understanding of the (in)stability of the prokaryotic microbiome in hemimetabolous insects and its independence from moult. More generally, they question the role of microbiome acquisition through maternal care in maintaining family life in species where this behaviour is facultative.
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publishDate 2024-07-01
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spelling doaj-art-131f7102995342a4a6b3c16649776c372025-02-07T10:17:18ZengPeer Community InPeer Community Journal2804-38712024-07-01410.24072/pcjournal.44610.24072/pcjournal.446Microbiome turnover during offspring development varies with maternal care, but not moult, in a hemimetabolous insect Cheutin, Marie-Charlotte0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7711-7512Boucicot, Manon1Meunier, Joël2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6893-2064Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l’Insecte, UMR 7261, CNRS, University of Tours, Tours, FranceInstitut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l’Insecte, UMR 7261, CNRS, University of Tours, Tours, FranceInstitut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l’Insecte, UMR 7261, CNRS, University of Tours, Tours, FranceThe ecological success of insects often depends on their association with beneficial microbes. However, insect development involves repeated moults, which can have dramatic effects on their microbial communities. Here, we investigated whether and how moulting affects the microbiome of a hemimetabolous insect, and whether maternal care can modulate these effects. We reared European earwig juveniles with or without mothers and used 16S rRNA metabarcoding to analyse the prokaryotic fraction of the core microbiome of eggs, recently and old moulted individuals at four developmental stages and the resulting adults. The 218 samples obtained showed that the microbiome diversity changed non-linearly during development and that these changes were associated with bacterial biomarkers. Surprisingly, these changes did not occur during moulting, but rather between the beginning and end of certain developmental stages. We also found that access to maternal care affected the microbiome of both juveniles and adults, even when the last contact with mothers was two months before adulthood. Overall, these results provide new insights into our understanding of the (in)stability of the prokaryotic microbiome in hemimetabolous insects and its independence from moult. More generally, they question the role of microbiome acquisition through maternal care in maintaining family life in species where this behaviour is facultative.https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.446/
spellingShingle Cheutin, Marie-Charlotte
Boucicot, Manon
Meunier, Joël
Microbiome turnover during offspring development varies with maternal care, but not moult, in a hemimetabolous insect
Peer Community Journal
title Microbiome turnover during offspring development varies with maternal care, but not moult, in a hemimetabolous insect
title_full Microbiome turnover during offspring development varies with maternal care, but not moult, in a hemimetabolous insect
title_fullStr Microbiome turnover during offspring development varies with maternal care, but not moult, in a hemimetabolous insect
title_full_unstemmed Microbiome turnover during offspring development varies with maternal care, but not moult, in a hemimetabolous insect
title_short Microbiome turnover during offspring development varies with maternal care, but not moult, in a hemimetabolous insect
title_sort microbiome turnover during offspring development varies with maternal care but not moult in a hemimetabolous insect
url https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.446/
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AT boucicotmanon microbiometurnoverduringoffspringdevelopmentvarieswithmaternalcarebutnotmoultinahemimetabolousinsect
AT meunierjoel microbiometurnoverduringoffspringdevelopmentvarieswithmaternalcarebutnotmoultinahemimetabolousinsect