Recent infection by Wolbachia alters microbial communities in wild Laodelphax striatellus populations

Background Host-associated microbial communities play an important role in the fitness of insect hosts. However, the factors shaping microbial communities in wild populations, including genetic background, ecological factors, and interactions among microbial species, remain largely unknown. Results Here, we surveyed microbial communities of the small brown planthopper (SBPH,Laodelphax striatellus) across 17 geographical populations in China and Japan by using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Using structural equation models (SEM) and Mantel analyses, we show that variation in microbial community structure is likely associated with longitude, annual mean precipitation (Bio12), and mitochondrial DNA variation. However, aWolbachiainfection, which is spreading to northern populations of SBPH, seems to have a relatively greater role than abiotic factors in shaping microbial community structure, leading to sharp decreases in bacterial taxon diversity and abundance in host-associated microbial communities. Comparative RNA-Seq analyses betweenWolbachia-infected and -uninfected strains indicate that theWolbachiado not seem to alter the immune reaction of SBPH, althoughWolbachiaaffected expression of metabolism genes. Conclusion Together, our results identify potential factors and interactions among different microbial species in the microbial communities of SBPH, which can have effects on insect physiology, ecology, and evolution.