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. 2023 Oct 29;14(11):840.
doi: 10.3390/insects14110840.

Characterization of the Bacterial Profile from Natural and Laboratory Glossina Populations

Youssef El Yamlahi  1   2   3 , Naima Bel Mokhtar  1   3 , Amal Maurady  1   2 , Mohammed R Britel  1 , Costas Batargias  4 , Delphina E Mutembei  5 , Hamisi S Nyingilili  5 , Deusdedit J Malulu  5 , Imna I Malele  6 , Elias Asimakis  3 , Panagiota Stathopoulou  3 , George Tsiamis  3
Affiliations

Characterization of the Bacterial Profile from Natural and Laboratory Glossina Populations

Youssef El Yamlahi et al. Insects. .

Abstract

Tsetse flies (Glossina spp.; Diptera: Glossinidae) are viviparous flies that feed on blood and are found exclusively in sub-Saharan Africa. They are the only cyclic vectors of African trypanosomes, responsible for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) and animal African trypanosomiasis (AAT). In this study, we employed high throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to unravel the diversity of symbiotic bacteria in five wild and three laboratory populations of tsetse species (Glossina pallidipes, G. morsitans, G. swynnertoni, and G. austeni). The aim was to assess the dynamics of bacterial diversity both within each laboratory and wild population in relation to the developmental stage, insect age, gender, and location. Our results indicated that the bacterial communities associated with the four studied Glossina species were significantly influenced by their region of origin, with wild samples being more diverse compared to the laboratory samples. We also observed that the larval microbiota was significantly different than the adults. Furthermore, the sex and the species did not significantly influence the formation of the bacterial profile of the laboratory colonies once these populations were kept under the same rearing conditions. In addition, Wigglesworthia, Acinetobacter, and Sodalis were the most abundant bacterial genera in all the samples, while Wolbachia was significantly abundant in G. morsitans compared to the other studied species. The operational taxonomic unit (OTU) co-occurrence network for each location (VVBD insectary, Doma, Makao, and Msubugwe) indicated a high variability between G. pallidipes and the other species in terms of the number of mutual exclusion and copresence interactions. In particular, some bacterial genera, like Wigglesworthia and Sodalis, with high relative abundance, were also characterized by a high degree of interactions.

Keywords: 16S rRNA; amplicon sequencing; bacterial profile; mass rearing; tsetse fly.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of this study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) plot based on the unweighted UniFrac metric of bacterial communities of G. austeni samples according to the age (p < 0.002).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The relative abundance of bacterial communities of Glossina austeni at phylum (A), class (B), and genus (C) levels.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) plot based on the unweighted UniFrac metric of bacterial communities of G. morsitans morsitans samples according to the age (p < 0.001).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The relative abundance of bacterial communities of Glossina morsitans morsitans at phylum (A), class (B), and genus (C) levels.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) plot based on the unweighted UniFrac metric of bacterial communities for G. pallidipes samples according to the age (p < 0.007).
Figure 6
Figure 6
The relative abundance of bacterial communities of G. pallidipes at phylum (A), class (B), and genus level (C).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Networks displaying mutual exclusion and co-occurrence interactions between bacterial genera that make up the communities of laboratory samples of G. austeni (A), G. m. morsitans (B), and G. pallidipes (C). The size of each node is proportional to the degree of interactions. Green edges represent cases of copresence and red edges of exclusion. The numbers in parentheses describe the percentage of each type of interaction.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) plot based on the unweighted UniFrac metric of bacterial communities for the natural samples according to species/location (p < 0.001).
Figure 9
Figure 9
The relative abundance of bacterial communities of the wild tsetse population according to phylum (A), class (B), and genus (C) levels.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Networks displaying mutual exclusion and co-occurrence interactions between bacterial genera that compose the communities of G. morsitans (A) and G. pallidipes (B) from Doma. The size of each node is proportional to the degree of interactions. Green edges represent cases of copresence and red edges mutual exclusion. The numbers in parentheses describe the percentage of each type of interaction.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Networks displaying mutual exclusion and co-occurrence interactions between bacterial genera that compose the communities of G. pallidipes (A) and G. swynnertoni (B) from Makao. The size of each node is proportional to the degree of interactions. Green edges represent cases of copresence and red edges mutual exclusion. The numbers in parentheses describe the percentage of each type of interaction.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Networks displaying mutual exclusion and co-occurrence interactions between bacterial genera that compose the communities of G. pallidipes from Msubugwe. The size of each node is proportional to the degree of interactions. Green edges represent cases of copresence and red edges mutual exclusion. The numbers in parentheses describe the percentage of each type of interaction.
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