Cargando…

Larvae of the Clothing Moth Tineola bisselliella Maintain Gut Bacteria that Secrete Enzyme Cocktails to Facilitate the Digestion of Keratin

The evolutionary success of insects is promoted by their association with beneficial microbes that enable the utilization of unusual diets. The synanthropic clothing moth Tineola bisselliella provides an intriguing example of this phenomenon. The caterpillars of this species have adapted to feed on...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Vilcinskas, Andreas, Schwabe, Michael, Brinkrolf, Karina, Plarre, Rudy, Wielsch, Natalie, Vogel, Heiko
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7563610/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32937935
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8091415
_version_ 1783595527597719552
author Vilcinskas, Andreas
Schwabe, Michael
Brinkrolf, Karina
Plarre, Rudy
Wielsch, Natalie
Vogel, Heiko
author_facet Vilcinskas, Andreas
Schwabe, Michael
Brinkrolf, Karina
Plarre, Rudy
Wielsch, Natalie
Vogel, Heiko
author_sort Vilcinskas, Andreas
collection PubMed
description The evolutionary success of insects is promoted by their association with beneficial microbes that enable the utilization of unusual diets. The synanthropic clothing moth Tineola bisselliella provides an intriguing example of this phenomenon. The caterpillars of this species have adapted to feed on keratin-rich diets such as feathers and wool, which cannot be digested by most other animals and are resistant to common digestive enzymes. Inspired by the hypothesis that this ability may be conferred by symbiotic microbes, we utilized a simple assay to detect keratinase activity and a method to screen gut bacteria for candidate enzymes, which were isolated from feather-fed larvae. The isolation of DNA from keratin-degrading bacterial strains followed by de novo genome sequencing resulted in the identification of a novel bacterial strain related to Bacillus sp. FDAARGOS_235. Genome annotation identified 20 genes with keratinase domains. Proteomic analysis of the culture supernatant from this gut bacterium grown in non-nutrient buffer supplemented with feathers revealed several candidate enzymes potentially responsible for keratin degradation, including a thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase and multiple proteases. Our results suggest that the unusual diet of T. bisselliella larvae promotes their association with keratinolytic microorganisms and that the ability of larvae to feed on keratin can at least partially be attributed to bacteria that produce a cocktail of keratin-degrading enzymes.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7563610
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-75636102020-10-27 Larvae of the Clothing Moth Tineola bisselliella Maintain Gut Bacteria that Secrete Enzyme Cocktails to Facilitate the Digestion of Keratin Vilcinskas, Andreas Schwabe, Michael Brinkrolf, Karina Plarre, Rudy Wielsch, Natalie Vogel, Heiko Microorganisms Article The evolutionary success of insects is promoted by their association with beneficial microbes that enable the utilization of unusual diets. The synanthropic clothing moth Tineola bisselliella provides an intriguing example of this phenomenon. The caterpillars of this species have adapted to feed on keratin-rich diets such as feathers and wool, which cannot be digested by most other animals and are resistant to common digestive enzymes. Inspired by the hypothesis that this ability may be conferred by symbiotic microbes, we utilized a simple assay to detect keratinase activity and a method to screen gut bacteria for candidate enzymes, which were isolated from feather-fed larvae. The isolation of DNA from keratin-degrading bacterial strains followed by de novo genome sequencing resulted in the identification of a novel bacterial strain related to Bacillus sp. FDAARGOS_235. Genome annotation identified 20 genes with keratinase domains. Proteomic analysis of the culture supernatant from this gut bacterium grown in non-nutrient buffer supplemented with feathers revealed several candidate enzymes potentially responsible for keratin degradation, including a thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase and multiple proteases. Our results suggest that the unusual diet of T. bisselliella larvae promotes their association with keratinolytic microorganisms and that the ability of larvae to feed on keratin can at least partially be attributed to bacteria that produce a cocktail of keratin-degrading enzymes. MDPI 2020-09-14 /pmc/articles/PMC7563610/ /pubmed/32937935 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8091415 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Vilcinskas, Andreas
Schwabe, Michael
Brinkrolf, Karina
Plarre, Rudy
Wielsch, Natalie
Vogel, Heiko
Larvae of the Clothing Moth Tineola bisselliella Maintain Gut Bacteria that Secrete Enzyme Cocktails to Facilitate the Digestion of Keratin
title Larvae of the Clothing Moth Tineola bisselliella Maintain Gut Bacteria that Secrete Enzyme Cocktails to Facilitate the Digestion of Keratin
title_full Larvae of the Clothing Moth Tineola bisselliella Maintain Gut Bacteria that Secrete Enzyme Cocktails to Facilitate the Digestion of Keratin
title_fullStr Larvae of the Clothing Moth Tineola bisselliella Maintain Gut Bacteria that Secrete Enzyme Cocktails to Facilitate the Digestion of Keratin
title_full_unstemmed Larvae of the Clothing Moth Tineola bisselliella Maintain Gut Bacteria that Secrete Enzyme Cocktails to Facilitate the Digestion of Keratin
title_short Larvae of the Clothing Moth Tineola bisselliella Maintain Gut Bacteria that Secrete Enzyme Cocktails to Facilitate the Digestion of Keratin
title_sort larvae of the clothing moth tineola bisselliella maintain gut bacteria that secrete enzyme cocktails to facilitate the digestion of keratin
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7563610/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32937935
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8091415
work_keys_str_mv AT vilcinskasandreas larvaeoftheclothingmothtineolabisselliellamaintaingutbacteriathatsecreteenzymecocktailstofacilitatethedigestionofkeratin
AT schwabemichael larvaeoftheclothingmothtineolabisselliellamaintaingutbacteriathatsecreteenzymecocktailstofacilitatethedigestionofkeratin
AT brinkrolfkarina larvaeoftheclothingmothtineolabisselliellamaintaingutbacteriathatsecreteenzymecocktailstofacilitatethedigestionofkeratin
AT plarrerudy larvaeoftheclothingmothtineolabisselliellamaintaingutbacteriathatsecreteenzymecocktailstofacilitatethedigestionofkeratin
AT wielschnatalie larvaeoftheclothingmothtineolabisselliellamaintaingutbacteriathatsecreteenzymecocktailstofacilitatethedigestionofkeratin
AT vogelheiko larvaeoftheclothingmothtineolabisselliellamaintaingutbacteriathatsecreteenzymecocktailstofacilitatethedigestionofkeratin