# Gut Bacterial Community Structure and Function Prediction of Lygus pratensis at Different Developmental Stages

## TL;DR

This study explores how the gut bacteria of a cotton pest change during its life stages, revealing patterns in diversity and function that could help develop new biological control methods.

## Contribution

The study provides the first detailed analysis of gut bacterial community structure and function across different developmental stages of Lygus pratensis.

## Key findings

- Bacterial diversity in L. pratensis increases during nymphal stages and decreases in adults.
- Proteobacteria and Wolbachia dominate the gut microbiota across all developmental stages.
- Functional predictions show enrichment in metabolism and genetic information processing pathways.

## Abstract

In this study, Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing combined with PICRUSt2 functional prediction was used to analyze the intestinal characteristics of five populations of L. pratensis: eggs, nymphs (first and fifth instars), and adults (females and males). The results demonstrated significant differences in the diversity of intestinal bacterial communities among the five populations, with diversity showing a dynamic pattern of first increasing and then decreasing as the instar advanced. Specifically, the bacterial community diversity at the nymphal stage was significantly higher than that at the egg and adult stages. Across all populations, the intestinal bacteria were dominated by the phylum Proteobacteria and the genus Wolbachia. Functional prediction of the intestinal bacteria revealed that their functions were mainly concentrated in pathways such as metabolism and genetic information processing. This study lays a theoretical foundation for further elucidating the succession dynamics and functional mechanisms of the intestinal bacterial community in L. pratensis.

L. pratensis is a significant pest of cotton. Clarifying the intestinal bacterial structure of L. pratensis can provide a theoretical basis for the development of new pest biological control strategies. In this study, high-throughput sequencing was employed to characterize the intestinal bacterial communities across five L. pratensis populations, and the functions of their core metabolic pathways were predicted. The results showed that the intestinal bacterial communities of the five L. pratensis populations comprised 16 phyla, 25 classes, 54 orders, 85 families, 133 genera, and 187 species. Diversity analysis revealed that the diversity of the intestinal bacterial community exhibited a dynamic trend of first increasing and then decreasing during the pest’s growth and development. Specifically, the Shannon and Simpson diversity indices of the nymphal stage were significantly higher than those of the egg and adult stages (p < 0.05). The dominant phylum, class, order, family, genus and species shared by the five groups were Proteobacteria (93.17%), Gammaproteobacteria (48.71%), Rickettsiales (43.83%), Anaplasmataceae (49.39%), Wolbachia (43.83%) and Wolbachia (43.82%). Among them, Acinetobacter was mainly found in the first instar nymph stage, and Serratia was mainly distributed in the fifth instar nymph and female and male adults. Functional prediction results showed that the intestinal bacterial community was mainly enriched in core pathways, including metabolism, genetic information processing, and environmental information processing. This study provides a new target for green prevention and control of L. pratensis and also provides a theoretical basis for further elucidating the succession law and functional mechanism of its gut microbiota.