Succession of the gut microbiota in the cockroach Blattella germanica

摘要: The cockroach gut harbors a wide variety of microorganisms that, among other functions, collaborate in digestion and act as barrier against pathogen colonization. Blattabacterium, primary endosymbiont, lives the fat body inside bacteriocytes plays an important role nitrogen recycling. Little is known about mode acquisition bacteria or their ecological succession throughout insect life cycle. Here we report on bacterial taxa isolated from different developmental instars Blattella germanica. load increased two orders magnitude first to second nymphal stage, coinciding with incorporation majority taxa, but remained similar thereafter.  Pyrosequencing hypervariable regions V1–V3 16S rRNA genes showed that microbial composition differed significantly between adults nymphs. Specifically, was observed which Fusobacterium accumulated aging, while Bacteroides decreased. Blattabacterium only symbiont found ootheca, makes vertical transmission unlikely acquisition. Scanning electron microscopy disclosed rich biofilm third instar nymphs, filamentous structures were exclusively adults. [Int Microbiol 2014; 17(2):99-109] Keywords: germanica · microbiota gene endosymbionts