D3080: (2nd Place) Characterizing the gut-microbial composition across the segments of the gastrointestinal tract in five grasshopper species

The microbiome of an animal can be a crucial aspect of an animal’s physiology. Gastrointestinal microbes have been documented across a wide diversity of species to promote nutrient supplementation, protection against pathogen colonization, and the breakdown of toxic or recalcitrant compounds in their diet. In grasshoppers, the details of their microbiome have gone relatively under-researched, with only a handful of analyses over the last decade. Grasshoppers inhabit a wide range of diets and microhabitats that would serve to identify how variation in microbial abundance fluctuates with variations in a single taxonomic group. There are also functional differences within their gut segments that would suggest bacterial differences across the gastrointestinal tract. To look at these differences we conducted a bacterial abundance analysis of Illumina sequences between 5 grasshopper species (Conecephalus faciatus, Conecephalus strictus, Orchelimum concinnum, Orchelimum vulgare, and Scudderia texensisare) and within the foregut, midgut, hindgut, and caeca of the GI tract of the insect. We identified significant differences in the bacterial abundance within the species tested but not across the 4 gut segments. Our research suggests that variation in bacterial abundance is explained more by the grasshopper species than by the gut segments. This research serves to bridge the gap of knowledge concerning the grasshopper microbiome and helps to expand the potential function of these bacteria within their host.