Eating eggplants as a cucurbit feeder: diet shifts promote complex gut
microbiome responses in the melon fly Zeugodacus cucurbitae
(Diptera, Tephritidae)
Abstract
While contemporary changes in feeding preferences have been documented
in phytophagous insects, the mechanisms behind these processes remain to
be fully clarified. In this context, the insect gut microbiome plays a
central role in adaptation to novel host plants. The cucurbit
frugivorous fruit fly Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Diptera,
Tephritidae) has occasionally been reported on “unconventional” host
plants from different families, including Solanaceae. In this study, we
focus on wild parental (F0) and semi-wild first filial
(F1) samples of Z. cucurbitae from multiple sites
in La Réunion and explore how the gut microbiome composition changes
when this fly is feeding on a non-cucurbit host (Solanum
melongena). Our analyses show non-obvious microbiome responses
following F0-F1 host shift and the importance of local effects which
heavily affected the diversity and composition of microbiomes. We
identified the main bacterial genera responsible for differences between
treatments and provided a first overview of the metabolic pathways in
which they are involved. These data further stress the importance of a
careful approach when drawing general inferences based on laboratory
populations or from non-adequately replicated field samples.