Unravelling the midgut microbiota associated with Pink boll worm. Gut microbiome analysis of pink boll work

Insects possess a close interaction with microbes like any other organism. They are the hidden players of many things that an insect exhibit. Gut microbiome studies concerning lepidopteran insects pests of important crop plant are the least touched area as compared to studies on insects that thrive on dung and decaying matter like termites and cockroaches. Elucidating the midgut microbiome in important economic pest like Pectinophora gossypiella can be a stepping stone in understanding there increased resistance against bt-varieties of cotton and commonly used pesticides. Till date there are not many studies where in-depth composition of gut microbiome of P. gossypiella has been reported linking to its gender. Targeted metagenomics of 16S rRNA V3-V4 region has been used to see if there is any sexual bias in the presence of gut microbes vis a vis their function in pink bollworm larvae. The results of the present study revealed that Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria were the predominant phylum in the midgut of pink bollworm.. The male population was inhabited by more diverse bacterial communities than females as they had higher number of operational taxonomical units. Community composition and diversity of gut microbiota varied with sex of the insect. Taxonomic to phenotypic mapping revealed that, these gut bacteria play vital role in many metabolic and physiological activities of pink bollworm.