Research shows industrial interest of the gut microbial community of the beetle Pachnoda marginata
Researchers at the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), a joint centre of the University of Valencia (UV) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), have published a study that reveals a highly diverse microbial community and the potential of the gut of the beetle larva Pachnoda marginata as a source of microbial diversity of industrial interest. The work published in the journal -npj Biofilms and Microbiomeshighlights that biological activities and metabolic pathways related to cellulose degradation, methane production and sulphate reduction have been characterised.
’The intestine of Pachnoda is very surprising because from a structural, microbial and biochemical point of view it looks like the intestine of a miniature cow, despite having evolved completely independently of these ruminants,’ says àngela Vidal-Verdù, first author of the article and predoctoral researcher of the University Programme Training Programme (FPU) at the University. Researchers from the UV Science Park spin-off Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence, the University of Brandenburg and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (UV) are also taking part in this research.
The gut microbiomes of insects play a crucial role in their development and are influenced by their specialised feeding habits and the morphological structure of their gut. Beetles of the genus Pachnoda have a highly differentiated gut, with a marked dilatation in the hindgut that resembles a small rumen (first of the four stomachs of ruminants). The study has investigated the species Pachnoda marginata in detail to understand its microbial ecology.
Juli Peretó, professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (UV) and Manel Porcar (I2SysBio and Darwin Bioprospeting), principal investigators of the project, highlight the biotechnological potential of some of the microbial communities present in the gut of Pachnoda that, for example, can resemble a biogas production plant.
Using environmental genomics (metagenomics) techniques that allow analysis of the genomes present in a given environment, the microbial community in each section of the gut of P. marginata was analysed. A microbial gradient from aerobic communities in the foregut to strictly anaerobic communities in the hindgut was discovered.
This study is an important step towards understanding the complex microbial communities inhabiting the highly compartmentalised gut of P. marginata, a work in microbial ecology that has not yet been done, and which opens doors for future research in this field.
This research has been supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación, the European Union and the Agencia Valenciana de la Innovación.
Reference article: Vidal-Verdù, à., Torrent, D., Iglesias, A. et al. The highly differentiated gut of Pachnoda marginata hosts sequential microbiomes: microbial ecology and potential applications. npj Biofilms Microbiomes 10, 65 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522’024 -00531-7
Pachnoda marginata specimen
