Bacteria associated with Copestylum (Diptera, Syrphidae) larvae and their cactus host Isolatocereus dumortieri

We describe the gut bacterial diversity inhabiting two saprophagous syrphids and their breeding substrate (decayed tissues of the columnar cactus Isolatocereus dumortieri). We analyzed the gut microbiota of Copestylum latum (scooping larvae that feed on decayed cactus tissues) and Copestylum limbipenne (whose larvae can also feed on semiliquid tissues) using molecular techniques. DNA was extracted from larval guts and cactus tissues. The V1-V3 region of the 16S rRNA genes was amplified and sequenced. A total of 31079 sequences were obtained. The main findings are: C. limbipenne is dominated by several Enterobacteriaceae, including putative nitrogen-fixing genera and pectinolitic species and some denitrifying species, whereas in C. latum unclassified Gammaproteobacteria predominate. Decayed tissues have a dominant lactic acid bacterial community. The bacterial communities were more similar between larval species than between each larva and its breeding substrate. The results suggest that the gut bacterial community in these insects is not strongly affected by diet and must be dependent on other factors, such as vertical transmission, evolutionary history and host innate immunity.This research was funded by AECID (project A/020305/08), FOMIX CONACYT-Hidalgo (project 95828) and SEP-CONACYT (project 84127) to M. A. M.-G., and BFU2009-12895-C02-01 from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Inovación to A.L. A.P.M. acknowledge the scholarship provided by The Alβan programme, the European Union Programme of High Level Scholarships for Latin America, No. E07D401138MX and CONACYT program (207522) for doctoral fellowship. A.D. is recipient of a fellowship from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain