A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Bacterial diversity associated with the brown stone centipede, Lithobius forficatus (Chilopoda, Lithobiomorpha)




AuthorsVahtera, Varpu; Rezola, Uxue; Duplouy, Anne

PublisherFINNISH ZOOLOGICAL BOTANICAL PUBLISHING BOARD

Publishing placeUNIV HELSINKI

Publication year2024

JournalAnnales Zoologici Fennici

Journal name in sourceANNALES ZOOLOGICI FENNICI

Journal acronymANN ZOOL FENN

Volume61

Issue1

First page 33

Last page45

Number of pages13

ISSN0003-455X

eISSN1797-2450

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5735/086.061.0104

Web address https://doi.org/10.5735/086.061.0104

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/477952938


Abstract
Many associations with microbial species significantly affect the biology, ecology and evolution of the host. Yet, our understanding of the species composition of the gut microbiota remains limited for many host species. Here, we provide a new step towards filling this gap, and characterize the bacterial microbiota of 60 specimens of Lithobius forficatus, a brown stone centipede commonly found in Finland. Many specimens analysed in this study were found to have a very species-rich bacterial community, while others hosted communities clearly dominated by one bacterial species. The most abundant phylotypes included some potential pathogens such as Borrelia and Pseudomonas, a honeybee gut symbiont Gilliamella and some maternally inherited symbiotic bacteria, including Wolbachia and Rickettsiaceae. While females and males were found to carry similar bacterial communities, population had a significant effect on the bacterial community composition. Bacterial species richness did not differ between sexes or between populations in Lithobious forficatus.

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Funding information in the publication
AD was funded by the Academy of Finland (grant #321543) .Laboratory costs were covered by the funding from the Ministry of the Environment. We thank Ruby Kaiser from the Sonoma State University for discussion about the microbiota analyses, Satu Maekelae for assisting in the qPCR analyses, Tiina Hannunen from FIMM for conducting the metabarcode sequencing, and Valter Weijola for his comments on the manuscript. We are also thankful to Kari Kaunisto and two anonymous reviewers for their comments.


Last updated on 2025-10-02 at 13:11