Characterization of bacterial communities associated with blood-fed and starved tropical bed bugs, Cimex hemipterus (F.) (Hemiptera): a high throughput metabarcoding analysis

Sci Rep. 2021 Apr 19;11(1):8465. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-87946-w.

Abstract

With the development of new metagenomic techniques, the microbial community structure of common bed bugs, Cimex lectularius, is well-studied, while information regarding the constituents of the bacterial communities associated with tropical bed bugs, Cimex hemipterus, is lacking. In this study, the bacteria communities in the blood-fed and starved tropical bed bugs were analysed and characterized by amplifying the v3-v4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene region, followed by MiSeq Illumina sequencing. Across all samples, Proteobacteria made up more than 99% of the microbial community. An alpha-proteobacterium Wolbachia and gamma-proteobacterium, including Dickeya chrysanthemi and Pseudomonas, were the dominant OTUs at the genus level. Although the dominant OTUs of bacterial communities of blood-fed and starved bed bugs were the same, bacterial genera present in lower numbers were varied. The bacteria load in starved bed bugs was also higher than blood-fed bed bugs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bacteria / classification*
  • Bacteria / genetics
  • Bacteria / isolation & purification*
  • Bedbugs / microbiology*
  • Blood / microbiology*
  • DNA / analysis
  • DNA / genetics*
  • DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic
  • Feeding Behavior*
  • Starvation*

Substances

  • DNA