The variation in house dust mite microbial communities is important because various microorganisms modulate the production of allergens by their mite hosts and/or contaminate immunotherapeutic extracts. Temporal changes in mite microbiomes and the mite culture environment occurring at different stages of mite culture development are particularly understudied in this system. Here, we analyzed the dynamics of microbial communities during the culture growth of Dermatophagoides farinae. Changes in microbiomes were related to three key variables: the mite population density, microbial microcosm respiration and concentration of guanine (the mite nitrogenous waste metabolite). Mite populations exhibited the following phases: exponential growth, plateau and exponential decline. The intracellular bacterium Cardinium and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae prevailed in the internal mite microbiomes, and the bacterium Lactobacillus fermentum was prevalent in the mite diet. The reduction in the mite population size during the late phases of culture development was related to the changes in their microbial profiles: the intracellular bacterium Cardinium was replaced by Staphylococcus, Oceanobacillus and Virgibacillus, and S. cerevisiae was replaced by the antagonistic fungi Aspergillus penicillioides and Candida. Increases in the guanine content were positively correlated with increases in the Staphylococcus and A. penicillioides profiles in the culture environment. Our results show that the mite microbiome exhibits strong, dynamic alterations in its profiles across different mite culture growth stages.

Crop Research Institute Drnovska 507 73 CZ 16106 Prague 6 Ruzyne Czechia

Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kotlarska 267 2 CZ 61137 Brno Czechia

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Michigan 3600 Varsity Drive Ann Arbor MI 48109 USA

Department of Parasitology Faculty of Science Charles University Vinicna 1594 7 CZ 12800 Prague 2 Czechia

Institute of Biology University of Tyumen Pirogova 3 625043 Tyumen Russia

References provided by Crossref.org

A novel Bartonella-like bacterium forms an interdependent mutualistic symbiosis with its host, the stored-product mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae

The Effect of Residual Pesticide Application on Microbiomes of the Storage Mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae

Population growth and respiration in the dust mite Dermatophagoides farinae under different temperature and humidity regimes

The Negative Effects of Feces-Associated Microorganisms on the Fitness of the Stored Product Mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae

Interactions of the Intracellular Bacterium Cardinium with Its Host, the House Dust Mite Dermatophagoides farinae, Based on Gene Expression Data