When Science Becomes Art- Great Study on the Microbiome of the Black Soldier Fly

How often does science become art? You know, situations where studies are so well done, and the figures fit the manuscript so well, that together, they become a work of art. 

Well, I definitely feel the authors of today's paper being discussed accomplished such a feat. I am very impressed with the experiment design, data analysis, interpretation of said data, and the significance of the study to the field of BSF production. I wish I could include the images from the paper in my blog post but I don't think the journal would appreciate me doing so. 

If you have time, please review this paper- if only for the images.  Very impressive!

Bruno, D., M. Bonelli, F. De Filippis, I. Di Lelio, G. Tettamanti, M. Casartelli, D. Ercolini, and S. Caccia. 2019. The intestinal microbiota of Hermetia illucens larvae is affected by diet and shows a diverse composition in the different midgut regions. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 85: e01864-01818.

​Main takeaways from the study:
1. BSF larval gut varies in terms of pH with the forgot and midgut being acidic and the hindgut being basic. 
2. Microbiota of the substrate impacts the microbiota in the midgut of the BSF larvae. This is a very interesting find as it could indicate BSF larvae potentially are challenged by the microbes in the food substrate just as the nutritional makeup impacts BSF larval performance. 
3. Dietary composition of the diet impacts the microbiota of the BSF larval gut.

In my opinion, here is the major discovery-This study determined, for these diets, BSF larvae did not impact the microbiota of the substrate. These data are counter to what has been found previously. Based on the figures, BSF larvae did not impact the number of bacteria present in the diet either. 

Author

Jeffery K. Tomberlin, PhD, BSF artisan 
Director, EVO Conversion Systems
Twitter: @FliesFacility