Characteristics and dynamics of microbial communities in Dermatophagoides farinae: Insights Across Developmental Stages

Background Dermatophagoides farinae causes human allergic diseases and contains a large number of microbes. The structure of the microbial community is an essential prerequisite for understanding the intricate symbiotic relationships between microbes and hosts. The characteristics and dynamics of symbiotic microbes at different developmental stages of D. farinae , however, are not well understood. Methods We performed high-throughput amplicon sequencing to investigate microbial community in D. farinae at different developmental stages. Results The results showed that microbial communities were diverse and dynamic during D. farinae development. Bacterial communities were generally richer than fungi in each developmental stage. The species richness and diversity of the bacterial community declined significantly from immature stages to adults. The highest species richness of the fungal community existed in nymphs. Eggs had the lowest fungal diversity. At 97% similarity, we assigned 40 phyla and 616 genera of bacteria and annotated 11 fungal phyla composed of 276 genera. The dominant bacterial and fungal phyla in all stages were Proteobacteria and Ascomycota , respectively. Staphylococcus was more abundant in eggs than in other stages, Bordetella , Pseudomonas , and Stenotrophomonas were dominant in both larvae and nymphs, and Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia and Ralstonia were abundant in adults. Vibrionimonas was dominant in both eggs and adults. Aspergillus was the dominant fungal genus at all stages. Xeromyces was abundant in eggs, and Penicillium and Sarocladium were abundant in other stages. Correlation analysis showed the existence of strong and complex correlations in the dominant microbial genera, and most of these correlations were positive. The functional analysis showed that microbes participate in various life activities in D. farinae. Bacteria tend to have a higher functional abundance than fungi, such as substance metabolism. The functions of bacteria gradually enriched in adults. We observed similar fungal functional abundance in all stages. Conclusion this study has enriched our knowledge of the microbial communities associated with D. farinae and has provided clues for discovering microbes that play important functions in D. farinae .