Olive fruit fly symbiont population: impact of metamorphosis

The olive fruit fly, the most important olive tree pest, is dependent on an obligate bacterial symbiont to its larvae development in the immature fruit. This symbiont, Ca. Erwinia dacicola, is prevalent trough host life stages, and we have shown significant changes in its numbers due to fly metamorphosis. The olive fruit fly microbiota was analyzed through 16S metabarcoding, at three development stages: last instar larvae, pupae and adult.