Bacterial flora associated with Kerria lacca (Kerr)

The application of biochemical and molecular methods in this study to investigate the microbiota of Indian lac insect, K. lacca has provided the basis to explore the community of bacterial taxa. Eight different bacterial species were isolated and categorized as endosymbiont, gut bacterium or subsurface bacterium. Three of them viz. Paenibacillus barengoltzii, Pseudomonas fulva and Pantoea ananatis were exclusive to males, whereas Bacillus cereus, Solibacillus silvestris and Curtobacterium citreum were found in females only. Majorly, the associations were sex-specific and only Bacillus megaterium and Arthrobacter subterraneus were common to both the sexes. Bacillus megaterium, Arthrobacter subterraneus and Pantoea ananatis were found to be the most abundant bacterial species. This work has made an attempt to identify the microbes associated with lac insect and to characterize them using molecular and biochemical approaches. The location of these bacteria in insect body and their significance in lac insect life cycle has also been discussed.