Antibiotics and beetle microbiome

Effects of different antibiotic treatments on bacterial endosymbionts

Presenter: Esmeralda Vargas

Co-Presenter(s):
Ruth Hernandez

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 22-23

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Nathan Rank

Department: Biology

Funding Source/Sponsor: Other

Other Funding Source/Program: National Science Foundation

President's Strategic Plan Goal: Sustainability and Environmental Inquiry

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1H19uyGd67UVxYgT73SZlpAo0Eudizp58

Abstract:
The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the effects that antibiotics would have on the maternal inheritance of bacteria in insects using a willow leaf beetle. The bacteria of interest include two strains of Wolbachia (A and B), and one strain of Spiroplasma. For this experiment, females were collected and nourished with leaves that had been sprayed with four different antibiotic treatments: rifampicin plus gentamicin, rifampicin alone, gentamicin alone, tetracycline, and a control group. After the females produced offspring, their larvae were collected to be tested for the presence of these three bacterial strains. The antibiotics were selected based on prior studies of other insects. We used PCR to quantify the levels of each bacterial type. Our results showed that beetle larvae contained differing quantities of Spiroplasma and Wolbachia.