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 malePardosa
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 andAcinetobacter(belongs to Proteobacteria),RuminococcusandFusicatenibacter(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.