Comparison of gut microbiome from Sulawesi carrion and burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae) through metagenomic analysis of 16S rRNA gene

Abstract

Carrion beetle (Coleoptera: Silphidae) is one of the scavengers which obtain nutrition from carcass decomposition which supported by the microbial symbionts through the mutual symbiosis. In this study, we characterized and compared the gut microbial community from the species of Nicrophorinae (Nicrophorus distinctus Grouvelle, 1885) and Silphinae (Necrophila renatae Portevin, 1920) from Dako Mountain, Central Sulawesi using 16S metagenomic approach. A total of 661 bacterial Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) at the species level were obtained from the guts of Ni. distinctus and Ne. renatae. Those numbers were predominated by Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, followed by Bacteriodetes in both species. Interestingly, a high number of Lactobacillales was observed in Ni. distinctus and lower number in Clostridiales and Cardiobacteriales compared to Ne. renatae, which showed higher abundance of those classes. Both of these insect species have nearly the same microbial diversity values, even though there some lower taxa levels were found different abundance. These results suggest that the patterns of the gut microbial structure depicted their roles in certain behavior and habitat on decomposing carcasses and could be correlated to the specific level of taxa roles in nutrient processing.