Bacterial community composition shifts in the gut of Periplaneta americana fed on different lignocellulosic materials.

ABSTRACT: Cockroaches are insects that can accommodate diets of different composition, including lignocellulosic materials. Digestion of these compounds is achieved by the insect's own enzymes and also by enzymes produced by gut symbionts. The presence of different and modular bacterial phyla on the cockroach gut tract suggests that this insect could be an interesting model to study the organization of gut bacterial communities associated with the digestion of different lignocellulosic diets. Thus, changes in the diversity of gut associated bacterial communities of insects exposed to such diets could give useful insights on how to improve hemicellulose and cellulose breakdown systems. In this work, through sequence analysis of 16S rRNA clone libraries, we compared the phylogenetic diversity and composition of gut associated bacteria in the cockroach Periplaneta americana collected in the wild-types or kept on two different diets: sugarcane bagasse and crystalline cellulose. These high fiber diets favor the predominance of some bacterial phyla, such as Firmicutes, when compared to wild-types cockroaches. Our data show a high bacterial diversity in P. americana gut, with communities composed mostly by the phyla Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Synergistetes. Our data show that the composition and diversity of gut bacterial communities could be modulated by diet composition. The increased presence of Firmicutes in sugarcane bagasse and crystalline cellulose-fed animals suggests that these bacteria are strongly involved in lignocellulose digestion in cockroach guts. BACKGROUND: Cockroaches are omnivorous animals that can incorporate in their diets food of different composition, including lignocellulosic materials. Digestion of these compounds is achieved by the insect's own enzymes and also by enzymes produced by gut symbiont. However, the influence of diet with different fiber contents on gut bacterial communities and how this affects the digestion of cockroaches is still unclear. The presence of some bacterial phyla on gut tract suggests that cockroaches could be an interesting model to study the organization of gut bacterial communities during digestion of different lignocellulosic diets. Knowledge about the changes in diversity of gut associated bacterial communities of insects exposed to such diets could give interesting insights on how to improve hemicellulose and cellulose breakdown systems. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We compared the phylogenetic diversity and composition of gut associated bacteria in the cockroach P. americana caught on the wild or kept on two different diets: sugarcane bagasse and crystalline cellulose. For this purpose we constructed bacterial 16S rRNA gene libraries which showed that a diet rich in cellulose and sugarcane bagasse favors the predominance of some bacterial phyla, more remarkably Firmicutes, when compared to wild cockroaches. Rarefaction analysis, LIBSHUFF and UniFrac PCA comparisons showed that gene libraries of wild insects were the most diverse, followed by sugarcane bagasse fed and then cellulose fed animals. It is also noteworthy that cellulose and sugarcane bagasse gene libraries resemble each other. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data show a high bacterial diversity in P. americana gut, with communities composed mostly by the phyla Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Synergistetes. The composition and diversity of gut bacterial communities could be modulated by font of diet composition. The increased presence of Firmicutes in sugarcane bagasse and crystalline cellulose-fed animals suggests that these bacteria are strongly involved in lignocellulose digestion in cockroach guts.

Environmental shaping of sponge associated archaeal communities.

BACKGROUND: Archaea are ubiquitous symbionts of marine sponges but their ecological roles and the influence of environmental factors on these associations are still poorly understood. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We compared the diversity and composition of archaea associated with seawater and with the sponges Hymeniacidon heliophila, Paraleucilla magna and Petromica citrina in two distinct environments: Guanabara Bay, a highly impacted estuary in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the nearby Cagarras Archipelago. For this we used metagenomic analyses of 16S rRNA and ammonia monooxygenase (amoA) gene libraries. Hymeniacidon heliophila was more abundant inside the bay, while P. magna was more abundant outside and P. citrina was only recorded at the Cagarras Archipelago. Principal Component Analysis plots (PCA) generated using pairwise unweighted UniFrac distances showed that the archaeal community structure of inner bay seawater and sponges was different from that of coastal Cagarras Archipelago. Rarefaction analyses showed that inner bay archaeaoplankton were more diverse than those from the Cagarras Archipelago. Only members of Crenarchaeota were found in sponge libraries, while in seawater both Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota were observed. Although most amoA archaeal genes detected in this study seem to be novel, some clones were affiliated to known ammonia oxidizers such as Nitrosopumilus maritimus and Cenarchaeum symbiosum. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The composition and diversity of archaeal communities associated with pollution-tolerant sponge species can change in a range of few kilometers, probably influenced by eutrophication. The presence of archaeal amoA genes in Porifera suggests that Archaea are involved in the nitrogen cycle within the sponge holobiont, possibly increasing its resistance to anthropogenic impacts. The higher diversity of Crenarchaeota in the polluted area suggests that some marine sponges are able to change the composition of their associated archaeal communities, thereby improving their fitness in impacted environments.

Archaea, Bacteria, and algal plastids associated with the reef-building corals Siderastrea stellata and Mussismilia hispida from Búzios, South Atlantic Ocean, Brazil.

Reef-building corals may be seen as holobiont organisms, presenting diverse associated microbial communities. Best known is the symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae, but Archaea, Bacteria, fungi, viruses, and algal plastids are also abundant. Until now, there is little information concerning microbial communities associated with Brazilian corals. The present study aims to describe the diversity of Archaea, Bacteria, and eukaryotic algal plastid communities associated with two sympatric species, Siderastrea stellata and Mussismilia hispida, from Southeastern Brazil, using 16S rRNA gene libraries. Since corals present a high number of other associated invertebrates, coral barcoding (COI) was performed to confirm the exclusive occurrence of coral DNA in our samples. Our analysis yielded 354 distinct microbial OTUs, represented mainly by novel phylotypes. Richness (Chao1 and ACE) and diversity (H') estimations of the microbial communities associated with both species were high and comparable to other studies. Rarefaction analyses showed that microbial diversity of S. stellata is higher than that of M. hispida. Libshuff comparative analyses showed that the highest microbial community similarity between the two coral species occurred in the bacterial libraries, while archaeal and plastidial communities were significantly different. Crenarchaeota dominated archaeal communities, while Proteobacteria was the most abundant bacterial phylum, dominated by alpha-Proteobacteria. Plastids were also represented by novel phylotypes and did not match with any 16S rRNA sequences of Cyanobacteria and zooxanthellae from GenBank. Our data improves the pool of available information on Brazilian coral microbes and shows corals as sources of diverse prokaryotic and picoeukaryotic communities.