Recruitment of beneficial microbes to protect offspring, often reducing the energetic costs of care, is now recognized as an important component of parental care in many animals. Studies on earwigs (order Dermaptera) have revealed that removal of females from egg tending increases mortality of eggs due to fungal infections, possibly caused by changes in the bacterial microbiome on the egg surface. We used a controlled female-removal experiment to evaluate whether female nest attendance in the maritime earwig, Anisolabis maritima, influences the bacterial microbiome on the egg surface. Further, we analyzed the microbiomes of mothers and their eggs to determine if there are a core set of bacteria transferred to eggs through female care. Microbiomes were analyzed using 16S rRNA bacterial DNA sequencing, revealing that bacterial operational taxonomic unit (OTU) richness and diversity were both significantly higher for female attended versus unattended eggs. The core microbiome of adult females contained bacteria which have the potential to carry anti-fungal characteristics; these bacteria were found in higher presence and relative abundance on eggs where females were allowed to provide care. These results demonstrate that female egg attendance significantly impacts the bacterial microbiome of A. maritima eggs, and identifies specific bacteria within the egg microbiome that should be investigated further for beneficial anti-fungal properties in this system.

如今，人们普遍认为招募有益的微生物来保护后代通常可以降低照护的精力，这已成为许多动物父母护理的重要组成部分。对ear的研究（Dermpaptera目）表明，将雌性从卵中移出往往会由于真菌感染而增加卵的死亡率，这可能是由于卵表面细菌性微生物组的变化引起的。我们使用了受控的女性去除实验来评估海上垂耳假单胞菌（Anisolabis maritima）是否有女性巢穴，影响蛋表面的细菌微生物组。此外，我们分析了母亲及其卵的微生物组，以确定是否存在通过女性护理转移到卵中的核心细菌。使用16S rRNA细菌DNA测序对微生物组进行了分析，结果表明，与无人照管的卵相比，雌性照管的细菌操作分类单位（OTU）的丰富度和多样性均明显更高。成年女性的核心微生物组中含有可能具有抗真菌特性的细菌。在允许雌性提供照顾的卵上，发现这些细菌的存在率较高且相对丰富。这些结果表明，女性卵的参与显着影响了滨海曲霉的细菌微生物组。 卵，并鉴定卵微生物组中的特定细菌，应对该系统中的有益抗真菌特性进行进一步研究。