Metagenomic analysis of microbial community of a parasitoid wasp Megaphragma amalphitanum

Abstract

The vast majority of multicellular organisms coexist with bacterial symbionts that may play various roles during their life cycle. Parasitoid wasp Megaphragma amalphitanum (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) belongs to the smallest known insects whose size is comparable with some bacteria. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), we described microbiota diversity for this arthropod and its potential impact on their lifecycle. Metagenomic sequences were deposited to SRA database which is available at NCBI with accession number SRX2363723 and SRX2363724. We found that small body size and limited lifespan do not lead to a significant reduction of bacterial symbionts diversity. At the same time, we show here a specific feature of microbiota composition in M. amalphitanum – the absence of the Rickettsiaceae family representatives that are known to cause sex-ratio distortion in arthropods and well represented in other populations of parasitoid wasps.