Gut Microbial Diversity in Brood XIX Periodical Cicadas Across Three Georgia Populations

Periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.) harbor host-specialized gut microbial communities critical for their survival on nutrient-poor xylem fluid. However, the gut microbiome of Brood XIX, a unique 13-year brood found in Georgia, USA, has not had any further research conducted.  Further investigation into the microbiome of Brood XIX can improve our understanding of how microbial communities vary among broods and how they support cicada survival and development. For this study, samples were collected from three distinct locations in Georgia: Chickamauga (Walker County), Elberton (Elbert County), and LaGrange (Troup County). It includes two Magicicada species (M. septendecim and M. cassini) with six individuals of each sex (female and male) per species and location, totaling 36 cicadas. The research will consist of dissecting 36 cicadas, extracting their gut microbe DNA, which will then be identified using the Sanger-EZ sequencing platform, which utilizes 16S rRNA genes. This research is still ongoing. There have been a few prior studies conducted in which there were two bacteria, Hodgkinia and Sulcia, that were found to be the most common and dominant symbiotes. We hope to find out if Hodgkinia and Sulcia are consistently present across populations in Brood XIX in Georgia. Having prior studies as knowledge can help us investigate these patterns which can improve our understanding of host-microbe specialization.