Bacterial communities and their predicted function change with the life stages of invasive C-strain Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith, 1797) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Spodoptera frugiperda is known as a highly polyphagous and invasive insect pest of maize and many other important agricultural crops. Spodoptera frugiperda is categorized into two host-adapted strains, namely ‘R’ (rice) and ‘C’ (corn). Bacterial communities that inhabit the insect body play various physiological as well as biological roles. To design effective and environmentally safe management strategies, an understanding of the diversity and functions of microbiota harbored across the development stages is essential, specifically strain-specific. The assessment of the diversity of development-associated bacteria and their predicted functions was conducted in C-strain of S. frugiperda using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing obtained by the Illumina MiSeq technology. The results showed that the unique number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) was higher in the pupal stage (145 OTUs) and lowest in the third instar larval stage (76 OTUs). Species richness progressively increased with metamorphosis and was significantly higher in adult females. Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were dominant phyla across all developmental stages. Firmicutes were dominant in egg (53.47