Creating a reference database for blow fly-derived bacterial taxa

Investigations into the microbial associations of blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) have been of scientific interest for decades. Next generation sequencing techniques have made it possible to examine the microbial diversity of these flies, although a concentrated repository describing fly associated taxa is lacking. The aim of this project is to create a reference database containing descriptive information regarding the biology, ecology, and public health importance (e.g., pathogenicity, antimicrobial resistance) of bacterial taxa associated with wild-caught blow flies. DNA extracted from the guts of wild-caught blow flies (N = 18) of three species, Phormia regina (Meigen), Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius), and Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart) underwent high-throughput paired-end sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Descriptive information for all 721 unique taxa was extracted from the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, the NIH Pathogen Detection Database, and the NIH National Database of Antibiotic Resistant Organisms, and from the primary literature. The information for each unique OTU, such as culturability, disease association, etc., was compiled into a single searchable document for reference. This reference database will allow for more rapid assessment of fly-microbial associations in the wild, particularly in terms of lesser known pathogenic strains.