Instar- and host-associated differentiation of bacterial communities in the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Microorganisms are acknowledged for their role in shaping insects' evolution, life history and ecology. Previous studies have shown that microbial communities harbored within insects vary through ontogenetic development and among insects feeding on different host-plant species. In this study, we characterized the bacterial microbiota of the highly polyphagous Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae), at different instars and when feeding on different host-plant species. Our results show that the bacterial microbiota hosted within the Mediterranean fruit fly differs among instars and host-plant species. Most of the bacteria harbored by the Mediterranean fruit fly belong to the phylum Proteobacteria, including genera of Alphaproteobacteria such as Acetobacter and Gluconobacter; Betaprotobacteria such as Burkholderia and Gammaproteobacteria such as Pseudomonas.

published proceedings

  • PLoS One

altmetric score

  • 9.33

author list (cited authors)

  • Malacrin, A., Campolo, O., Medina, R. F., & Palmeri, V.

citation count

  • 52

complete list of authors

  • Malacrinò, Antonino||Campolo, Orlando||Medina, Raul F||Palmeri, Vincenzo

editor list (cited editors)

  • Favia, G.

publication date

  • March 2018