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. 2022 Jul 14:13:903136.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.903136. eCollection 2022.

The Native Microbial Community of Gastropod-Associated Phasmarhabditis Species Across Central and Southern California

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The Native Microbial Community of Gastropod-Associated Phasmarhabditis Species Across Central and Southern California

Jacob Schurkman et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Nematodes in the genus Phasmarhabditis can infect and kill slugs and snails, which are important agricultural pests. This useful trait has been commercialized by the corporation BASF after they mass produced a product labeled Nemaslug®. The product contains Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita, which has been cultured with Moraxella osloensis, a bacterial strain that was originally thought to be responsible for causing mortality in slugs and snails. The exact mechanism leading to death in a Phasmarhabditis infected host is unknown but may involve contributions from nematode-associated bacteria. The naturally occurring microbial community of Phasmarhabditis is unexplored; the previous Phasmarhabditis microbial community studies have focused on laboratory grown or commercially reared nematodes, and in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the parasite and its host interactions, it is crucial to characterize the natural microbial communities associated with this organism in the wild. We sampled Phasmarhabditis californica, Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita, and Phasmarhabditis papillosa directly from their habitats in Central and Southern California nurseries and garden centers and identified their native microbial community via 16S amplicon sequencing. We found that the Phasmarhabditis microbial community was influenced by species, location, and possibly gastropod host from which the nematode was collected. The predominant bacteria of the Phasmarhabditis isolates collected included Shewanella, Clostridium perfringens, Aeromonadaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, and Acinetobacter. Phasmarhabditis papillosa isolates exhibited an enrichment with species belonging to Acinetobacter or Pseudomonadaceae. However, further research must be performed to determine if this is due to the location of isolate collection or a species specific microbial community pattern. More work on the natural microbial community of Phasmarhabditis is needed to determine the role of bacteria in nematode virulence.

Keywords: Phasmarhabditis californica; Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita; Phasmarhabditis papillosa; gastropods; microbiome.

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Conflict of interest statement

IL is a co-inventor on a patent entitled Mollusk-killing Biopesticide (WO2017059342A1). The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The comparison of microbial community alpha diversity of nematode-associated microbial communities. (A) Phasmarhabditis species and (B) location affect the richness of the microbial composition in nematode. Kruskal-Wallis test, *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; and ***p < 0.001.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of microbial community alpha diversity across different host species or sample collection strategy. (A) Gastropod host and (B) collection strategy are not associated with differences in the diversity of the Phasmarhabditis microbial community.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) plots of nematode microbial community’s based on Bray Curtis distance. PCoA plots showing (A) Phasmarhabditis species and (B) location. Percent variance explained is shown in parentheses for each axis. Ellipses show 95% CI.
Figure 4
Figure 4
PCoA plots of nematode microbial community of different gastropod hosts, based on Bray Curtis distance. PCoA plots with samples clustered by (A) gastropod host and (B) collection strategy; % variance explained shown in parentheses for each axis. Ellipses show 95% CI.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Heatmap of the nematode microbial community at species level. Species with relative abundance >5% across all samples are displayed.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Relative abundance of the most abundant species in the Phasmarhabditis species. Mann–Whitney U-test, *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. Boxplots show inter-quartile range, whiskers minimum to maximum.

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