Diversity and Function of Wolf Spider Gut Microbiota Revealed by Shotgun Metagenomics.

Wolf spiders (Lycosidae) are crucial component of integrated pest management programs and the characteristics of their gut microbiota are known to play important roles in improving fitness and survival of the host. However, there are only few studies of the gut microbiota among closely related species of wolf spider. Whether wolf spiders gut microbiota vary with habitats remains unknown. Here, we used shotgun metagenomic sequencing to compare the gut microbiota of two wolf spider species, and from farmland and woodland ecosystems, respectively. The results show that the gut microbiota of spiders is similar in richness and abundance. Approximately 27.3% of the gut microbiota of comprises Proteobacteria, and approximately 34.5% of the gut microbiota of comprises Firmicutes. We assembled microbial genomes and found that the gut microbiota of are enriched in genes for carbohydrate metabolism. In contrast, those of showed a higher proportion of genes encoding acetyltransferase, an enzyme involved in resistance to antibiotics. We reconstructed three high-quality and species-level microbial genomes: and an unknown bacterium belonging to the family Simkaniaceae. Our results contribute to an understanding of the diversity and function of gut microbiota in closely related spiders.