Hermetia illucens larval gut bacterial community profiles

The black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens, is a focal species for industrial and commercial mass-rearing owing to the ability of its larvae to convert large quantities of organic waste material into high-value protein, lipid, and chitin biomass. Recent studies have demonstrated that the bioconversion potential, and subsequently the phenotypic performance, of H. illucens larvae may be underscored by the presence and abundance of specific bacterial taxa within the gastro-intestinal tract. Yet, it remains largely unclear the extent to which broader gut microbial landscape features influence the emergence of marketable traits in this species. Using a 16S rDNA metagenomic profiling approach, this study aimed to investigate potential phenotype-microbiome associations in Hermetia illucens larvae and contextualise these relationships with respect to drivers of microflora variability. Gut bacterial samples were collected from two experimental colonies (representing genetic variation) reared on four, industry-applicable diets (representing environmental variation) under standard mass-rearing practices.