A healthy wasp microbiome can fend off pesticides
When wasps were exposed to low doses of a common pesticide, the makeup of their microbiomes changed and the insects became more resistant to the chemical.It’s easy to forget about the teaming community of bacteria and other microscopic life forms that live in the guts of every animal. But without these tiny organisms, us larger life forms wouldn’t survive. They do everything from helping us digest food to regulating our mood. Now, scientists have identified another bacterial boon in insects. When wasps were exposed to low doses of a common pesticide, the makeup of their crucial gut microbiomes changed as certain bacteria became more abundant. After several generations, these changes made the insects more resistant to the chemical. The researchers hope to better understand how gut bacteria protect their insect hosts. This could eventually lead to developing probiotics for wild honeybees, other animals, and even people who are at high...