First report of the coffee leaf miner ( Leucoptera coffeella ) bacteriome in larval/adult stages and possible contribution of the plant host

Coffee leaf mine, a small moth of the family Lyonetiidae, is considered one of the most important coffee pests. Despite its economic importance, almost nothing is known about its microbiome. Seeking to help fill this knowledge gap, in our study we investigated the bacteriome of the insect (larvae and adult) and coffee leaves by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene. We found that at the phylum level Pseudomonadota and Bacteroidota dominate. At the genus level, leaves were mainly dominated by Sphingomonas and Methylobacterium; the caterpillar were mainly dominated by Xanthomonas and Paracoccus; the adult moth were mainly dominated by Acinetobacter and Klebsiella. We estimate that the contribution to the bacteriome of adult moths comes from larvae, 50%, from leaves, 40%, and 10% from other sources. Several bacteria with the potential to degrade insecticides and secondary plant compounds were found, which leads to the expectation that they may help their hosts in resisting these toxic compounds. We hope that this work will contribute to encouraging further investigation of this important coffee pest.