Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.2
3.0
Journals
Insects
Special Issues
Gut Microbiota in Social Insects
share announcement

Gut Microbiota in Social Insects

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Insect Physiology, Reproduction and Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 9202

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ryo Miyazaki

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan
Interests: insect gut microbiota; microbial ecology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The gut microbial community has a profound impact on the host’s physiology and behavior, while the host’s genetical and ecological contexts also affect gut microbiota. This bidirectional association plays a crucial role in coevolution between hosts and gut microbes. Social insects, including ants, bees, wasps, and termites, are great models for studying the emergence and evolution of sociality in animal species, as well as for understanding how such social organization shapes their gut microbial communities. Yet, our knowledge of social insect–microbe dynamics remains limited to well-studied species and their relatives. For this Special Issue, we invite the submission of papers that provide a broad perspective of the relationship between social insects and gut microbiota. In particular, we welcome papers focusing on the diversity or consistency of a gut microbial community among castes, colonies, and relevant behaviors to sociality. We also welcome sophisticated studies using model species like honey bees and termites, but would also appreciate short reports on gut microbiota in any endemic species or local tribe. The enrichment and upgrade of our knowledge on the aforementioned aspects will help us to better understand host–microbe interaction in social insects.

Dr. Ryo Miyazaki
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • social insect
  • behavior
  • gut microbiota
  • microbiome
  • symbiosis
  • 16S rRNA gene
  • metagenome

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Review

17 pages, 1089 KiB  
Review
Basic Structures of Gut Bacterial Communities in Eusocial Insects
by Shota Suenami, Akiko Koto and Ryo Miyazaki
Insects 2023, 14(5), 444; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14050444 - 08 May 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2471
Abstract
Gut bacterial communities assist host animals with numerous functions such as food digestion, nutritional provision, or immunity. Some social mammals and insects are unique in that their gut microbial communities are stable among individuals. In this review, we focus on the gut bacterial [...] Read more.
Gut bacterial communities assist host animals with numerous functions such as food digestion, nutritional provision, or immunity. Some social mammals and insects are unique in that their gut microbial communities are stable among individuals. In this review, we focus on the gut bacterial communities of eusocial insects, including bees, ants, and termites, to provide an overview of their community structures and to gain insights into any general aspects of their structural basis. Pseudomonadota and Bacillota are prevalent bacterial phyla commonly detected in those three insect groups, but their compositions are distinct at lower taxonomic levels. Eusocial insects harbor unique gut bacterial communities that are shared within host species, while their stability varies depending on host physiology and ecology. Species with narrow dietary habits, such as eusocial bees, harbor highly stable and intraspecific microbial communities, while generalists, such as most ant species, exhibit relatively diverse community structures. Caste differences could influence the relative abundance of community members without significantly altering the taxonomic composition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gut Microbiota in Social Insects)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

28 pages, 529 KiB  
Review
Functional Properties and Antimicrobial Activity from Lactic Acid Bacteria as Resources to Improve the Health and Welfare of Honey Bees
by Massimo Iorizzo, Francesco Letizia, Sonia Ganassi, Bruno Testa, Sonia Petrarca, Gianluca Albanese, Dalila Di Criscio and Antonio De Cristofaro
Insects 2022, 13(3), 308; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13030308 - 21 Mar 2022
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 5395
Abstract
Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are agriculturally important pollinators. Over the past decades, significant losses of wild and domestic bees have been reported in many parts of the world. Several biotic and abiotic factors, such as change in land use over time, [...] Read more.
Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are agriculturally important pollinators. Over the past decades, significant losses of wild and domestic bees have been reported in many parts of the world. Several biotic and abiotic factors, such as change in land use over time, intensive land management, use of pesticides, climate change, beekeeper’s management practices, lack of forage (nectar and pollen), and infection by parasites and pathogens, negatively affect the honey bee’s well-being and survival. The gut microbiota is important for honey bee growth and development, immune function, protection against pathogen invasion; moreover, a well-balanced microbiota is fundamental to support honey bee health and vigor. In fact, the structure of the bee’s intestinal bacterial community can become an indicator of the honey bee’s health status. Lactic acid bacteria are normal inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract of many insects, and their presence in the honey bee intestinal tract has been consistently reported in the literature. In the first section of this review, recent scientific advances in the use of LABs as probiotic supplements in the diet of honey bees are summarized and discussed. The second section discusses some of the mechanisms by which LABs carry out their antimicrobial activity against pathogens. Afterward, individual paragraphs are dedicated to Chalkbrood, American foulbrood, European foulbrood, Nosemosis, and Varroosis as well as to the potentiality of LABs for their biological control. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gut Microbiota in Social Insects)
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop