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We know that some of the bacteria in our gut come from the food we eat and our environment. I want to know if there is evidence of bacteria being transferred from the mother to her fetus or from the mother to the eggs.

I'm currently working with insects that have plastic-eating bacteria in their gut. They are raised in isolated spaces so those bacteria would have to come from the bran they eat or from their mother. I'm a physics student interested in biophysics so my biology knowledge is still a work in progress. Thank you.

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  • $\begingroup$ Human babies get coated in birth canal fluids and vaginal microbes as their first encounter with the microbial world, and they absorb 40% of gut microbes from milk.,,, Insects come from eggs and may have no contact with the parents, so you should say which insects you are working on. $\endgroup$
    – bandybabboon
    Commented Nov 2, 2017 at 17:45

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For technical information on the subject, perhaps start with "vertical transmission insect symbionts" on google, which will lead to you to a variety of info's. Studies for symbionts of lice, fruit flies, mosquitos, termites, isopods, stinkbugs, butterflies and planthoppers.

Insect Symbiosis Vol 3 page 145 states:

Insects have been shown to use transovarian, egg smearing, and coprophagy, transmission, else entirely from the environment at every generation. There is a list of summaries of different insects that use different methods.

this also has masses of information: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2967712/

Samples for large insects are taken with tweezers, small insects can be dunked in alcohol and then microbes are extracted. Microbia RNA can be checked for evidence if the symbionts come from the parents. You can probably figure out a variety of methods for transmitting your insects symbionts, simply applying the wanted gut bacteria to the substrate of new cultures. I expect it can work in between species. you can try smearing eggs too.

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