Data from: Exploring the role of microbiota in mediating sexually dimorphic infection outcomes in mealworm beetles
Data files
Jul 22, 2025 version files 122.06 KB
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Dataset_repository.xlsx
120.63 KB
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README.md
1.43 KB
Abstract
Sexually dimorphic responses to pathogenic infections in animals may stem from sex-specific differences in their life history and immune investment. Recent evidence highlights that such sex-specific variations in immune responses can also be critically regulated by microbiota. However, direct experiments to test how microbiota jointly impacts sex-specific immunity and vulnerability to pathogens are still limited. To this end, we used Tenebrio molitor beetles to first establish that sexes appear to differ in their microbiota composition and infection responses. Females were more vulnerable to bacterial infections and carried a higher bacterial load than males. When we depleted the microbiota, only females improved their post-infection survival, leading to a decrease in the level of sex specific divergence in infection outcomes. Males, on the other hand, remained unaffected. Microbiota reconstitution (via feeding on faecal matter) of microbiota-depleted females increased their susceptibility to infection again, restoring the strong sexual dimorphism. We thus found a potential association between microbiota and infection responses. We also found reduced expression of an antimicrobial peptide tenecin 1 in females, which could be associated with their higher infection susceptibility, but such immune gene-vs-phenotypic associations were not consistent across microbiota manipulations. Immune strategies that are required to mediate the plausible links between microbiota and infection response might thus vary with microbiota manipulations, warranting future investigations.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.brv15dvmk
Description of the data and file structure
We used Tenebrio molitor beetles for our experimental assays. We measured two phenotypic responses (survival post-infection and bacterial load within host), two immune parameters (gene expression and phenoloxidase response), and microbiota profiling.
Files and variables
File: Dataset_repository.xlsx
Description: Each datasheet is labelled corresponding to the figure number in the main manuscript or supplementary information
Variables
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For the survival data, we have one response variables-lifespan (in hours)
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For the bacterial load data, we have one response variable- bacterial load
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For the gene expression data, we have one response variable- fold change
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For the phenoloxidase data, we have one response variable-slope value
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For the microbiota profiling, we have one response variable-abundance
Keys used- for the bacterial load data sets : ms denote mother stock
Code/software
We have uploaded the data as an excel sheet. There is no need of any other software to access those files.
Access information
All the data reported in the manuscript has been generated by the authors of this paper. No external data source was used for any of the experiments.