Gut microbiota variation drives differential performance in leaf beetles across host plants

作者：Xiayu Li, Yanping Zhang, Xiaotong Chen, Yuxin Zhang, Owais Khan, Letian Xu · 发表于：Microbiome · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1186/s40168-025-02278-5 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences、Insect-Plant Interactions and Control、Entomopathogenic Microorganisms in Pest Control

BACKGROUND: Host plant significantly influences herbivorous insect fitness, while plant-mediated gut microbiota are recognized as a key determinant of insect performance. However, to what extent the differential performance of herbivorous insects on various plants is attributed to plant properties versus plant-mediated gut microbiota remains less clear. RESULTS: Here, we initially observed that the leaf beetle Plagiodera versicolora preferred and exhibited superior performance on Salix babylonica compared with three other host plants. Intriguingly, eliminating larval gut microbiota abolished this preference-performance relationship, resulting in the loss of superior performance on S. babylonica. Further analysis of the larval gut microbiota revealed that Rosenbergiella nectarea was significantly enriched in S. babylonica-fed larvae and positively correlated with larval performance. Reintroduction of R. nectarea, but not two other gut commensal bacteria, restored the superior performance of germ-free (GF) larvae fed S. babylonica. Transcriptomic analysis linked this growth promotion to enhanced nutritional metabolism and developmental signaling. Integrated metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses further identified eight candidate genes underlying the observed effects. Notably, knockdown of either PvABCG1 or PvABCG5 recapitulated the microbiota-depleted phenotype, whereas reintroduction of R. nectarea into GF larvae only fully rescued PvABCG5 knockdown-induced growth retardatio...