Conspecific coprophagy stimulates normal development in a germ-free model invertebrate.

Microbial assemblages residing within and on animal gastric tissues contribute to various host beneficial processes that include diet accessibility and nutrient provisioning, and we sought to examine the degree to which intergenerational and community-acquired gut bacteria impact development in a tractable germ-free (GF) invertebrate model system. Coprophagy is a common behavior in cockroaches and termites that provides access to both nutrients and the primary means by which juveniles are inoculated with beneficial gut bacteria. This hypothesis was tested in the American cockroach () by interfering with this means of acquiring gut bacteria, which resulted in GF insects that exhibited prolonged growth rates and gut tissue dysmorphias relative to wild-type (WT) .