Evidence for a gut microbial community conferring adaptability to abiotic and biotic stressors in phytophagous insects: the melon fruit fly Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Diptera:Tephritidae) as case study

Microbial symbionts are known to play a key role in the biology, ecology, and evolution of phytophagous insects, but their abundance and diversity are suggested to be influenced by environment stressors. In order to identify this hypothesis, the change in gut microbial community of laboratory and wild Z. cucurbitae strains under temperature, diet quality, and antibiotic treatment was assessed using 16S rRNA metabarcoding. Experiment was conducted between 2020 and 2021 using La Reunion population of Z. cucurbitae.