Sex Results in Divergence in Gut Bacterial Community between Female and
Male Pardosa astrigera (Araneae: Lycosidae)
Abstract
Sex is one of the important factors affecting gut microbiota. As key
predators in agro-forestry ecosystem, many spider species show
dramatically different activity habits and nutritional requirements
between female and male. However, how sex affects gut microbiota of
spiders is still unclear. Therefore, in this study, the compositions and
diversities of gut bacteria, based on bacterial 16S rRNA gene
sequencing, were compared between female and male Pardosa astrigera. We
found that bacterial richness indices (P < 0.05) in female
were significantly lower than male, meanwhile, β-diversity showed
significantly different between female and male (P < 0.05).
The relative abundance of Actinobacteriota and Rhodococcus (belongs to
Actinobacteria) were significantly higher in female than male (P
< 0.05). Whereas, the relative abundance of Firmicutes and
Acinetobacter (belongs to Proteobacteria), Ruminococcus and
Fusicatenibacter (all belong to Firmicutes), were significantly higher
in male than female (P < 0.05). The results of PICRUSt2 showed
that amino acid and lipid metabolisms were significantly higher in
female than male (P < 0.05), whereas glycan biosynthesis and
metabolism was significantly higher in male than female (P <
0.05). Our results imply that sexual variation is a crucial factor in
shaping gut bacterial community in P. astrigera. Male P. astrigera
dispersed more widely than the female hence the male had a higher
bacterial diversity. While the distinct differences of bacterial
composition mainly due to their different nutritional and energy
requirements.