Population Dynamics of Intestinal Enterococcus Modulate Galleria mellonella Metamorphosis

Microbes found in the digestive tracts of insects are known to play an important role in their host’s behavior. Although Lepidoptera is one of the most varied insect orders, the link between microbial symbiosis and host development is still poorly understood. In particular, little is known about the role of gut bacteria in metamorphosis. Here, we explored gut microbial biodiversity throughout the life cycle of Galleria mellonella, using amplicon pyrosequencing with the V1 to V3 regions, and found that Enterococcus spp. were abundant in larvae, while Enterobacter spp. were predominant in pupae. Interestingly, eradication of Enterococcus spp. from the digestive system accelerated the larval-to-pupal transition. Furthermore, host transcriptome analysis demonstrated that immune response genes were upregulated in pupae, whereas hormone genes were upregulated in larvae. In particular, regulation of antimicrobial peptide production in the host gut correlated with developmental stage. Certain antimicrobial peptides inhibited the growth of Enterococcus innesii, a dominant bacterial species in the gut of G. mellonella larvae. Our study highlights the importance of gut microbiota dynamics on metamorphosis as a consequence of the active secretion of antimicrobial peptides in the G. mellonella gut. IMPORTANCE First, we demonstrated that the presence of Enterococcus spp. is a driving force for insect metamorphosis. RNA sequencing and peptide production subsequently revealed that antimicrobial peptides targeted against microorganisms in the gut of Galleria mellonella (wax moth) did not kill Enterobacteria species, but did kill Enterococcus species, when the moth was at a certain stage of growth, and this promoted moth pupation.