Physicochemical conditions and microbial community structure in the guts of lignocellulose feeding cockroaches

The guts of termites and cockroaches are both colonised by dense microbial communities that aid in digestion. While the microbiota of xylophagous termites differs substantially from that of omnivorous cockroaches, little is known about that of cockroaches with a lignocellulosic diet. Using high-throughput sequencing, we found that the hindgut communities of cockroach species feeding on wood or leaf litter were highly similar to those of omnivorous species. However, there were strong differences between individual gut compartments, which correlated with differences in physicochemical conditions. This suggests that habitat rather than diet is the major driver of community structure in cockroach guts.