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要旨:
Insects that use ephemeral resources must rapidly digest nutrients and simultaneously
protect them from competitors. Here we use burying beetles (Nicrophorus vespilloides), which
feed their offspring on vertebrate carrion, to investigate the digestive and defensive basis of
carrion utilization. We characterize gene expression and microbiota composition in the gut,
anal secretions, and on carcasses used by the beetles. We find a strict functional
compartmentalization of the gut involving differential expression of immune effectors
(antimicrobial peptides and lysozymes), as well as digestive and detoxifying enzymes.
A distinct microbial community composed of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and a clade of
ascomycetous yeasts (genus Yarrowia) is present in larval and adult guts, and is transmitted
to the carcass via anal secretions, where the yeasts express extracellular digestive enzymes
and produce antimicrobial compounds. Our results provide evidence of potential metabolic
cooperation between the host and its microbiota for digestion, detoxification and defence that
extends from the beetle’s gut to its nutritional resource.
