Dietary carbohydrate structure affects the gut microbial diversity, succession, and compartmentalization in black soldier fly larvae
Abstract
IntroductionBlack soldier fly larvae (BSFL) plays a pivotal role in bioconverting organic wastes into high-value biomass by gut microbiota. However, how dietary carbohydrate structure modulates gut microbial assembly remains unclear.MethodsHere, we characterized the gut bacterial communities across developmental stages and gut regions of BSFL reared on wheat bran (fiber-rich) and cassava (starch-rich) diets using 16S rRNA sequencing. Alpha-diversity analysis revealed that wheat bran diet significantly enhanced species richness (ACE, Chao) and diversity (Shannon), with progressive increases across larval stages, whereas cassava diet only increased richness without improved evenness. Dietary substrate was the primary driver of gut microbiota composition (PC1: 32.5% variance), followed by developmental stage. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, and Actinobacteriota were the predominant bacterial phyla across both diets. Firmicutes dominated the wheat bran group (52.34%) with a successional shift from Proteobacteria-enriched early stages to Firmicutes-enriched later stages, while Proteobacteria prevailed in cassava group (79.27%) throughout development. The wheat bran group was dominated by the genera of Klebsiella (20.17%), Bacillus (18.17%), Providencia (10.15%), whereas cassava group by unclassified_f_Enterobacteriaceae, Klebsiella, Enterococcus, Providencia, and Morganella. Specially, Bacillaceae prevailed in the anterior gut and the hindgut and Lachnospiraceae in the hindgut under wheat bran diet, indicating sequential fiber degradation. Cassava diet exhibited a homogeneous Enterobacteriaceae dominance across all regions. LEfSe further identified Firmicutes-affiliated taxa enriched in wheat bran and Dysgonomonas-associated taxa in cassava.DiscussionCollectively, these findings demonstrate that dietary carbohydrate structure dictates the taxonomic composition of the BSFL gut microbiota, offering practical guidance for optimizing waste bioconversion stratˇegies based on feedstock characteristics.
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BibTeX
@article{liu2026dietary,
title = {{Dietary carbohydrate structure affects the gut microbial diversity, succession, and compartmentalization in black soldier fly larvae}},
author = {Shaojuan Liu and Yangjie Lu and Xiaotian Tang and Yancheng Liu and Xiaowei Pan and Shaodong Zeng and Jianzhi Ye and Hongbin Guo and Huifang Ma},
journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2026.1956925},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1956925},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Dietary carbohydrate structure affects the gut microbial diversity, succession, and compartmentalization in black soldier fly larvae
AU - Shaojuan Liu
AU - Yangjie Lu
AU - Xiaotian Tang
AU - Yancheng Liu
AU - Xiaowei Pan
AU - Shaodong Zeng
AU - Jianzhi Ye
AU - Hongbin Guo
AU - Huifang Ma
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
JO - Frontiers in Microbiology
DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2026.1956925
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1956925
AB - IntroductionBlack soldier fly larvae (BSFL) plays a pivotal role in bioconverting organic wastes into high-value biomass by gut microbiota. However, how dietary carbohydrate structure modulates gut microbial assembly remains unclear.MethodsHere, we characterized the gut bacterial communities across developmental stages and gut regions of BSFL reared on wheat bran (fiber-rich) and cassava (starch-rich) diets using 16S rRNA sequencing. Alpha-diversity analysis revealed that wheat bran diet significantly enhanced species richness (ACE, Chao) and diversity (Shannon), with progressive increases across larval stages, whereas cassava diet only increased richness without improved evenness. Dietary substrate was the primary driver of gut microbiota composition (PC1: 32.5% variance), followed by developmental stage. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, and Actinobacteriota were the predominant bacterial phyla across both diets. Firmicutes dominated the wheat bran group (52.34%) with a successional shift from Proteobacteria-enriched early stages to Firmicutes-enriched later stages, while Proteobacteria prevailed in cassava group (79.27%) throughout development. The wheat bran group was dominated by the genera of Klebsiella (20.17%), Bacillus (18.17%), Providencia (10.15%), whereas cassava group by unclassified_f_Enterobacteriaceae, Klebsiella, Enterococcus, Providencia, and Morganella. Specially, Bacillaceae prevailed in the anterior gut and the hindgut and Lachnospiraceae in the hindgut under wheat bran diet, indicating sequential fiber degradation. Cassava diet exhibited a homogeneous Enterobacteriaceae dominance across all regions. LEfSe further identified Firmicutes-affiliated taxa enriched in wheat bran and Dysgonomonas-associated taxa in cassava.DiscussionCollectively, these findings demonstrate that dietary carbohydrate structure dictates the taxonomic composition of the BSFL gut microbiota, offering practical guidance for optimizing waste bioconversion stratˇegies based on feedstock characteristics.
SN - 1664-302X
ER -