Stability in a microbe-insect interaction

The degree of fidelity between microbes and their hosts varies considerably among different animal groups but also along the host’s developmental stages and depends on the stability of their microbial communities. Cheutin et al. showcase experimentally the stability of whole body bacterial microbiome in a dermapteran insect species, the European earwig Forficula auricularia . The carefully designed experiments, which include a large number of investigated families and the related methodologies along with the data analysis, revealed that the bacterial communities of this insect are highly dynamic during the early developmental stages