Abstract: 【Aim】 To reveal the bacterial community structure and diversity in the small brown planthopper (SBPH), Laodelphax striatellus. 【Methods】 The Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing platform was used to sequence the V3-V4 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene in the newly emerged female and male adults (24 h after emergence) of L. striatellus. The numbers of sequences and operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and the abundance and diversity of the bacterial communities were analyzed using the related softwares and databases including USEARCH and Silva. 【Results】 A total of 29 333 valid tags and 55 OTUs were obtained from female adults of L. striatellus, while the numbers of valid tags and OTUs from male adults were 25 919 and 57, respectively. Among them, 20 OTUs were shared between the two samples of female and male adults, and the unique OTU numbers for female and male adults were 35 and 37, respectively. The total OTUs of the two samples were annotated into 7 phyla, 15 classes, 23 orders, 33 families, 56 genera, and 73 species. At the levels of phylum, class, order and family, the most dominant bacteria in both samples of female and male adults were from Proteobacteria (99.96% for female and 99.16% for male), Alphaproteobacteria (97.76% for female and 97.84% for male), Rhodospirillales (83.92% for female and 53.21% for male), and Acetobacteraceae (83.90% for female and 53.17% for male), respectively. At the genus level, the dominant bacteria with the highest abundance belonged to an undetermined genus in Acetobacteraceae (unclassified Acetobacteraceae). The second dominant genus was Wolbachia, accounting for 13.81% and 44.52% in female and male adults, respectively. At the species level, the numbers of specific bacterial species in male and female adults were 21 and 32, respectively. However, the abundance of the sex-specific species in the two samples was generally low (less than 0.5%). 【Conclusion】 The results indicate that the bacteria in L. striatellus adults are diverse and the bacterial community structure and diversity are different between female and male adults. This study lays the foundation for further studies on the excavation and utilization of microorganism resources for the biocontrol of L. striatellus.  

Key words:  Laodelphax striatellus, 16S rRNA, high-throughput sequencing, bacteria, diversity