{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T06:49:26Z","timestamp":1791355766306,"version":"4.3.1"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791331200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Insect Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Growing interest in insects capable of developing in the presence of synthetic polymers has created new opportunities to investigate host responses alongside cultivable gut microorganisms. This study evaluated cumulative adult production in\n                    <jats:italic>Galleria mellonella<\/jats:italic>\n                    maintained on a control diet or diets containing polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS), or polyethylene (PE), together with the recovery of bacteria from the larval gut. Four dietary treatments control, PET, PS, and PE were established, each with five replicates of 15 initial larvae. Each experimental colony remained on its assigned diet until the initial cohort completed its life cycle and produced a second generation. Larvae from this offspring generation were selected for bacterial isolation, while the remaining individuals continued development for measurement of cumulative adult production. The isolates were characterized by sequencing the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene and comparison using BLASTn, followed by genus-level taxonomic assignment. Cumulative adult production in the second generation differed among treatments (P\u00a0=\u00a00.0194). The control produced the highest mean number of adults (122.0 \u00b1 56.3), whereas PET produced the lowest (41.8 \u00b1 19.1) and was the only treatment significantly lower than the control. Fourteen bacterial isolates, selected as representatives of visually distinct colony morphotypes, were characterized; these isolates were not assumed to represent 14 distinct taxa or strains. Thirteen were assigned to\n                    <jats:italic>Bacillus<\/jats:italic>\n                    and one to\n                    <jats:italic>Psychrobacillus<\/jats:italic>\n                    . Overall, the dietary formulations evaluated were associated with variation in cumulative adult production and yielded an initial collection of cultivable gut-associated bacteria for subsequent bioprospecting studies.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/finsc.2026.1960793","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T05:50:17Z","timestamp":1791352217000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Cumulative adult production and aerobic culture-dependent recovery of gut-associated bacteria in Galleria mellonella maintained on polymer-containing diets"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Stephany Eileen","family":"Keferstein-Borges","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratorio de Zoolog\u00eda, Departamento de Biotecnol\u00f3gicas y Ambientales, Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Guadalajara","place":["Zapopan, Mexico"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gabriela","family":"Alcal\u00e1-G\u00f3mez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratorio de Zoolog\u00eda, Departamento de Biotecnol\u00f3gicas y Ambientales, Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Guadalajara","place":["Zapopan, Mexico"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Claudia Ivette","family":"Cisneros-Reyes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Biotecnol\u00f3gicas y Ambientales, Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Guadalajara","place":["Zapopan, Mexico"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jaime","family":"Alcal\u00e1-G\u00f3mez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratorio de Zoolog\u00eda, Departamento de Biotecnol\u00f3gicas y Ambientales, Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Guadalajara","place":["Zapopan, Mexico"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.1700782","article-title":"Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made","volume":"3","author":"Geyer","year":"2017","journal-title":"Sci Adv"},{"key":"B2","volume-title":"Turning Off the Tap: How the World can End Plastic Pollution and Create a Circular Economy","year":"2023"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/AEM.01095-19","article-title":"Plastics: environmental and biotechnological perspectives on microbial degradation","volume":"85","author":"Danso","year":"2019","journal-title":"Appl Environ Microbiol"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"20200112","DOI":"10.1098\/rspb.2020.0112","article-title":"Role of the intestinal microbiome in low-density polyethylene degradation by caterpillar larvae of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella","volume":"287","author":"Cassone","year":"2020","journal-title":"Proc Biol Sci"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.est.9b07044","article-title":"Biodegradation of polyethylene and polystyrene by greater wax moth larvae (Galleria mellonella L.) and the effect of co-diet supplementation on the core gut microbiome","volume":"54","author":"Lou","year":"2020","journal-title":"Environ Sci Technol"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/insects8020061","article-title":"The biology and control of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella","volume":"8","author":"Kwadha","year":"2017","journal-title":"Insects"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/femspd\/ftaa057","article-title":"The greater wax moth Galleria mellonella: biology and use in immune studies","volume":"78","author":"Wojda","year":"2020","journal-title":"Pathog Dis"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fcimb.2021.782733","article-title":"Galleria mellonella as a suitable model of bacterial infection: past, present and future","volume":"11","author":"M\u00e9nard","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front Cell Infect Microbiol"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1021\/es504038a","article-title":"Evidence of polyethylene biodegradation by bacterial strains from the guts of plastic-eating waxworms","volume":"48","author":"Yang","year":"2014","journal-title":"Environ Sci Technol"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2017.02.060","article-title":"Polyethylene bio-degradation by caterpillars of the wax moth Galleria mellonella","volume":"27","author":"Bombelli","year":"2017","journal-title":"Curr Biol"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.est.1c03417","article-title":"Plastic biodegradation: do Galleria mellonella larvae bioassimilate polyethylene? 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