1st Place: D3156: Is the gut-microbiome of Odonata more ecologically or evolutionarily derived: Here’s our gut feeling!

Gut-endosymbionts have been attributed to being pivotal to insect life history and are a central driving force for ecological diversity of many organisms. The impact of digestive tract microbiota on host organisms remains largely understudied; in the case of Odonata, the effects of ecology versus evolution on the microbial guilds require further assessment. In this study, potential patterns regarding how particular habitats and natural history affect the community structure of odonate gut-endosymbionts are explored. Dragonfly and damselfly specimens from lentic and lotic habitats throughout Vietnam and The United States (Utah) were collected. Thoracic and abdominal DNA extractions of the digestive tract were performed to characterize the flora in each sample using the species-specific 16S locus found in most microbes. Gut-endosymbiont diversity for each odonate species was estimated by comparison with available online microbe DNA libraries. These were then compared between taxa, host and microbe habitat type, and phylogenetic history to elucidate patterns of gut-endosymbiont evolution in Odonata.