Cutler, J

Rae, R

Sheehy, L

Weedall, GD

Nematodes and bacteria are prevalent in soil ecosystems, and some have evolved symbiotic relationships. In some cases, symbionts carry out highly specialised functions: a prime example being entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs), which vector bacteria (Xenorhabdus or Photorhabdus) into insect hosts, killing them to provide a food source for the nematodes. It is thought that the commercially available malacopathogenic (kills slugs and snails) biocontrol nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita vectors a bacterium (Moraxella osloensis) into slugs to kill them. To investigate this further we used a metagenomic approach to profile the bacteria present in the commercial strain of P. hermaphrodita, a wild strain of P. hermaphrodita and two other Phasmarhabditis species (P. californica and P. neopapillosa), after they had killed their slug host (Deroceras invadens). We show that these nematodes do not exclusively associate with one bacterium but a range of species, with members of the phyla Pseudomonadota, Bacillota, Actinobacteriota and Bacteroidota the most prevalent. The commercial strain of P. hermaphrodita had the least diverse bacterial community. Furthermore, we found that the bacterium P. hermaphrodita has been cultured on for 25 years is not the expected species M. osloensis but is actually Psychrobacter spp. and the only strain of the Phasmarhabditis species to associate with Psychrobacter spp. was the commercial strain of P. hermaphrodita. In summary, we found no evidence to show that P. hermaphrodita rely exclusively on one bacterium to cause host mortality but found variable and diverse bacterial communities associated with these nematodes in their slug hosts

LJMU Research Online (Liverpool John Moores University)

Sheehy, L, Cutler, J, Weedall, GD and Rae, R Microbiome analysis of malacopathogenic nematodes suggests no evidence of a single bacterial symbiont responsible for gastropod mortalityhttp://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16540/ArticleLJMU has developed LJMU Research Online for users to access the research output of the University more effectively. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LJMU Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research.You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain.The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of the record. Please see the repository URL above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. For more information please contact researchonline@ljmu.ac.ukhttp://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/Citation (please note it is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from this work) Sheehy, L, Cutler, J, Weedall, GD and Rae, R Microbiome analysis of malacopathogenic nematodes suggests no evidence of a single bacterial symbiont responsible for gastropod mortality. Frontiers in Immunology. ISSN 1664-3224 (Accepted) LJMU Research OnlineMicrobiome analysis of malacopathogenic nematodes suggests no evidence of a single bacterial symbiont responsible for gastropod mortality Laura Sheehy1, James Cutler1, Gareth Weedall1 and Robbie Rae1* • 1Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom Nematodes and bacteria are prevalent in soil ecosystems, and some have evolved symbiotic relationships. In some cases, symbionts carry out highly specialised functions: a prime example being entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs), which vector bacteria (Xenorhabdus or Photorhabdus) into insect hosts, killing them to provide a food source for the nematodes. It is thought that the commercially available malacopathogenic (kills slugs and snails) biocontrol nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita vectors a bacterium (Moraxella osloensis) into slugs to kill them. To investigate this further we used a metagenomic approach to profile the bacteria present in the commercial strain of P. hermaphrodita, a wild strain of P. hermaphrodita and two other Phasmarhabditis species (P. californica and P. neopapillosa), after they had killed their slug host (Deroceras invadens). We show that these nematodes do not exclusively associate with one bacterium but a range of species, with members of the phyla Pseudomonadota, Bacillota, Actinobacteriota and Bacteroidota the most prevalent. The commercial strain of P. hermaphrodita had the least diverse bacterial community. Furthermore, we found that the bacterium P. hermaphrodita has been cultured on for 25 years is not the expected species M. osloensis but is actually Psychrobacter spp. and the only strain of the Phasmarhabditis species to associate with Psychrobacter spp. was the commercial strain of P. hermaphrodita. In summary, we found no evidence to show that P. hermaphrodita rely exclusively on one bacterium to cause host mortality but found variable and diverse bacterial communities associated with these nematodes in their slug hosts. Keywords: Metagenomics, Nematodes, gastropod, Symbiosis, biocontrol, Bacteria, 16S / 18S ribosomal RNA gene analysis Received: 18 Feb 2022; Accepted: 22 Mar 2022. Copyright: © 2022 Sheehy, Cutler, Weedall and Rae. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. * Correspondence: Dr. Robbie Rae, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 5UX, North West England, United Kingdom Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.  

Microbiome analysis of malacopathogenic nematodes suggests no evidence of a single bacterial symbiont responsible for gastropod mortality

https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16540/1/Microbiome%20analysis%20of%20malacopathogenic%20nematodes%20suggests%20no%20evidence%20of%20a%20single%20bacterial%20symbiont%20responsible%20for%20gastropod%20mortality.pdf

Microbiome analysis of malacopathogenic nematodes suggests no evidence of a single bacterial symbiont responsible for gastropod mortality

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