Parasite-induced replacement of host microbiota- Impact of Xenos gadagkari parasitization on the microbiota of Polistes wattii
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Background
The study of microbiota of social insects under different ecological conditions can provide important insights into the role of microbes in their biology and behaviour. Polistes is one of the most widely distributed and extensively studied genera of social wasps, yet the microbiota of any species of Polistes or any primitively eusocial wasp is still unknown. Polistes wattii is an abundantly distributed Asian wasp which hibernates in winter and exhibits a unique biannual nest founding strategy. It is often parasitized by the strepsipteran endoparasite Xenos gadagkari, which changes the morpho-physiology and behaviour of their hosts. In this study we employ 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, using the Oxford Nanopore platform, to study the microbial community associated with P. wattii and compared the microbiota of the unparasitized male and female P. wattii with their parasitized counterparts.
Results
The microbiota of females from preemergence solitary foundress nests differs from the females from the late colony phase of multiple foundress nests. The males and females also differ in their microbiota. To estimate the effect of strepsipteran parasitism on the microbiota of P. wattii, we compared the unparasitized wasps with that of the female and male X. gadagkari parasitoids and parasitized wasps. We show that the microbiota of the parasitoids and the parasitized wasps are dominated by Wolbachia and Providencia. β-diversity differences indicated that the parasitoid replaces and homogenizes the microbiota of P. wattii. Although the normal microbiota of P. wattii resembles that of highly eusocial vespid wasps, we show X. gadagkari parasitization replaces the microbiota of P. wattii and it becomes more like the microbiota of strepsipterans. Therefore, it appears that X. gadagkari and other such strepsipteran parasitoids may have a bigger impact on the biology of their hosts, than previously thought.
Conclusion
This is the first study of microbiota of any primitively eusocial Polistine wasp and any strepsipteran parasitoid associated with a hymenopteran species. Although strepsipteran parasitoids are commonly found in hymenopteran insects, the change on the microbiota of the host due to the parasitism was not known before. This study shows the drastic impact of the parasitoid on the microbiota of the host.
