The Asian longhorned beetle (ALB; Anoplophora glabripennis) is an invasive insect, recently established in the U.S., with a broad host range among deciduous trees. ALB has evolved to thrive in an inhospitable environment on an intractable energy source, living and growing deep in hardwood trees high in lignin, which restricts access to nutrients and usable energy.

Many insects grow on suboptimal diets by harboring gut symbionts that render these intractable resources more accessible. Yet, because these relationships are often complex, the impact of gut microbiota on host biology and ecology (other than termites) remains understudied, particularly in insects that are long-lived and difficult to rear on artificial substrates, such as cerambycids (longhorned beetles). This is remarkable given the importance of cerambycids as invasive species and that the ALB gut microbiota show a marked ability to degrade lignocellulose.

This project is designed to fill an important gap in our understanding of the contributions of gut microbes to xylophagous insect biology and host tree utilization, particularly with respect to lignocellulose degradation.