Organic waste substrates induce important shifts in gut microbiota of black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens L.) : coexistence of conserved, variable, and potential pathogenic microbes

The sustainable utilization of black soldier fly (BSF) for recycling organic waste into nutrient-rich biomass such as high-quality protein additive, is gaining momentum. Its gut microbiota is thought to play an important role. The study provides the first comprehensive analysis of bacterial and fungal communities of BSF gut across untreated substrates and highlights conserved members, potential pathogens, and their interactions. Findings show most bacteria found in the BSF gut are transient, and are affected by the local environment. The study contributes to establishment of safety measures for future processing of BSF larval meals and the creation of legislation to regulate their use in animal feeds.Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)Norwegian Agency for Development CooperationNetherlands Organization for Scientific ResearchWOTRO Science for Global Development (NWO-WOTRO)The Rockefeller Foundatio

Organic waste substrates induce important shifts in gut microbiota of black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens L.) : coexistence of conserved, variable, and potential pathogenic microbes

The sustainable utilization of black soldier fly (BSF) for recycling organic waste into nutrient-rich biomass, such as high-quality protein additive, is gaining momentum, and its microbiota is thought to play important roles in these processes. Several studies have characterized the BSF gut microbiota in different substrates and locations; nonetheless, in-depth knowledge on community stability, consistency of member associations, pathogenic associations, and microbe–microbe and host–microbe interactions remains largely elusive. In this study, we characterized the bacterial and fungal communities of BSF larval gut across four untreated substrates (brewers’ spent grain, kitchen food waste, poultry manure, and rabbit manure) using 16S and ITS2 amplicon sequencing. Results demonstrated that substrate impacted larval weight gain from 30 to 100% gain differences among diets and induced an important microbial shift in the gut of BSF larvae: fungal communities were highly substrate dependent with Pichia being the only prevalent genus across 96% of the samples; bacterial communities also varied across diets; nonetheless, we observed six conserved bacterial members in 99.9% of our samples, namely, Dysgonomonas, Morganella, Enterococcus, Pseudomonas, Actinomyces, and Providencia. Among these, Enterococcus was highly correlated with other genera including Morganella and Providencia. Additionally, we showed that diets such as rabbit manure induced a dysbiosis with higher loads of the pathogenic bacteria Campylobacter. Together, this study provides the first comprehensive analysis of bacterial and fungal communities of BSF gut across untreated substrates and highlights conserved members, potential pathogens, and their interactions. This information will contribute to the establishment of safety measures for future processing of BSF larval meals and the creation of legislation to regulate their use in animal feeds.The Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Section for Research, Innovation, and Higher Education (CAP-Africa), the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, WOTRO Science for Global Development (NWO-WOTRO) and The Rockefeller Foundation through the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe).http://www.frontiersin.org/Microbiologyam2022BiochemistryForestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)GeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog