Pantoea bathycoeliae sp. nov and Sodalis sp. are core gut microbiome symbionts of the two-spotted stink bug

Arista Fourie; Stephanus N Venter; Bernard Slippers; Gerda Fourie

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1284397

Pantoea bathycoeliae sp. nov and Sodalis sp. are core gut microbiome symbionts of the two-spotted stink bug

Front Microbiol. 2023 Nov 30:14:1284397. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1284397. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Arista Fourie¹, Stephanus N Venter¹, Bernard Slippers¹, Gerda Fourie¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.

Abstract

Stink bug species (Pentatomoidea superfamily) have developed an interdependence with obligate bacterial gut symbionts in specialized midgut crypts (M4 sub-region). Species of the Enterobacteriaceae family (predominantly Pantoea) are vertically transferred to their offspring and provide nutrients that cannot be obtained from plant sap food sources. However, the bacteria in the other gut compartments of stink bugs have rarely been investigated. The two-spotted stink bug, Bathycoelia distincta, is a serious pest of macadamias in South Africa. Nothing is currently known regarding its gut microbiome or how symbionts are transferred between insect generations. In this study, the consistency of B. distincta gut bacteria across geographic locations and life stages was determined with 16S rRNA metabarcoding, considering both the M4 and other gut compartments. A novel Pantoea species was found to be the primary M4 gut symbiont and is vertically transferred to the offspring. The other gut compartments had a low bacterial diversity and genera varied between stink bug populations but a Sodalis species was prominent in all populations. Sequence data of the M4 compartment were used to produce high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) for the Pantoea and Sodalis species. Functional analyses suggested a similar role in nutrient provision for the host, yet also unique metabolites produced by each species. The Sodalis sp. also had additional traits, such as secretion systems, that likely allowed it to establish itself in the host. The Pantoea species was described as Pantoea bathycoeliae sp. nov based on the rules of the SeqCode.

Keywords: Pantoea; Sodalis; gastric caeca; gut microbiome; stink bug; symbionts.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was made possible by the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute at the University of Pretoria, which provided the facilities and resources for this research, and the South African Macadamia Association (SAMAC), which provided a postdoctoral research grant and additional research funds for this project.