Guts Bacterial Communities of Porcellio dilatatus: Symbionts Predominance, Functional Significance and Putative Biotechnological Potential

Abstract

Terrestrial isopods are effective herbivorous scavengers with an important ecological role in organic matter cycling. Their guts are considered to be a natural enrichment environment for lignocellulosic biomass (LCB)-degrading bacteria. The main goal of this work was to assess the structural diversity of Porcellio dilatatus gut bacterial communities using NGS technologies, and to predict their functional potential using PICRUSt2 software. Pseudomonadota, Actinomycetota, Bacillota, Cyanobacteria, Mycoplasmatota, Bacteroidota, Candidatus Patescibacteria and Chloroflexota were the most abundant phyla found in P. dilatatus gut bacterial communities. At a family level, we identified the presence of eleven common bacterial families. Functionally, the P. dilatatus gut bacterial communities exhibited enrichment in KEGG pathways related to the functional module of metabolism. With the predicted functional profile of P. dilatatus metagenomes, it was possible to envision putative symbiotic relationships between P. dilatatus gut bacterial communities and their hosts. It was also possible to foresee the presence of a well-adapted bacterial community responsible for nutrient uptake for the host and for maintaining host homeostasis. Genes encoding LCB-degrading enzymes were also predicted in all samples. Therefore, the P. dilatatus digestive tract may be considered a potential source of LCB-degrading enzymes that is not to be neglected.