Unearthing Lactococcus lactis and Scheffersomyeces symbionts from edible wood-boring beetle larvae as a bio-resource for industrial applications.

Abstract

Background: Gut microbiota have several advantages in influencing the host nutrition, metabolism, immunity and growth. However, the understanding of the gut microbiota in key edible wood-boring beetle larvae remain largely undefined. In the present study, the characteristics of the gut microbiota of two edible wood-boring species (Titocerus jaspideus and Passalus punctiger) from two indigenous forested areas were investigated.

Results: Over 50% of Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) constituted of Firmicutes in T. jaspideus. The dominant phyla in both beetle species were Bacteroidota (4.20-19.79%) and Proteobacteria (15.10-23.90%). Lactococcus lactis was the most abundant and core prokaryote in the guts of T. jaspideus. The fungi identified in the gut of both insects belong to the phylum Obazoa (66%) and Ascomycota (> 15%). Scheffersomyeces sp. was the core eukaryote recorded. The diversity of gut microbiota in both insect species did not vary significantly. Most of the prokaryotic genes expressed were predominantly associated with biosynthesis and metabolism.

Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated that Lactococcus lactis and Scheffersomyeces are core gut microbes of wood boring beetle larvae with desirable probiotic properties and promising use in food product fermentation for improved growth performance, gut barrier health, intestinal flora balance and immune protection for human and animals. Further studies to highlight the latest medical-based applications of L. lactis as live-delivery vector for the administration of therapeutics against both communicable and non-communicable diseases are warranted.