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Terezia Horvathova, Vladimir Sustr, Roey Angel, Ulf Bauchinger (Institute of Soil Biology Biology Centre CAS, Ceske Budejovice, Czechia; Institute of Environmental Sciences Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland)
Host-symbiont associations are ubiquitous in nature and microbiota make an important contribution to host fitness. Given the importance of the microbiome, its composition should not be left to chance. However, what determines the composition of the microbiome is far from clear, with findings supporting contributions of both environmental factors and host genetics. We tested the role of the host diet and host phylogeny on the composition of gut microbiome in two keystone soil species, terrestrial isopods and millipedes, using a 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We studied whether different millipede species differ in their gut microbiome, despite being kept under similar conditions, and originating from different geographical regions. We further tested whether experimental manipulation of diet alters gut microbiome of adults and juveniles of a common woodlouse. The results show a species-specific and age-specific signatures of the gut microbiome of these arthropods. Surprisingly, diet has a little impact on the gut microbiome. Our results suggest that the microbiome may be essential trait of soil arthropods potentially influencing their performance as keystone species in soil ecosystems.