Unraveling bacterial diversity of the Indian Lac Insect Kerria lacca (Kerr) using next generation sequencing

The Indian lac insect, Kerria lacca (Kerr) is an industrially important insect because of its resin and pigment synthesizing capacity. Lac insects are phytophagous, sedentary almost throughout life and depend on phloem sap which is nutritionally imbalanced diet. Hence, it is postulated that endosymbionts are obligatory for their survival. Understanding the dynamics of microbiome of the lac insect is essential to unravel the complex interplay between microbes and lac insects. To study the diversity of endosymbiotic bacteria of lac insects, V3-V4 metagenome sequencing of neonate nymphs (crawlers) and the commercially important life stage, adult female lac insects were carried out using Illumina Hiseq 2500 platform. A total of 1646 OTUs (Operational Taxonomic Units) were obtained from both samples. The microbial diversity of crawlers and adult female lac insects was found to be different which could be due to the differences in morphology and physiology of those stages. More bacterial diversity and richness were found in crawlers compared to the adult female insects. Proteobacteria was the most abundant phylum in both stages, followed by Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria. Wolbachia and Pantoea were the predominant bacterial genera in the female lac insects. This paper is the first record on the study of bacterial composition of lac insect life stages using NGS technique. Evaluating the role of these microbes in lac insects may help in improving lac yield and productivity.