J Infect Dis 2010, 201:993–999.PubMedCrossRef Competing interest A. Osterhaus is a consultant to Viroclinics Biosciences BV, a spin out of Erasmus MC. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Authors’ contributions MG: Concept and design, executing experiments, analysis and interpetation of the data, writing of manuscript. ECMvG: Concept and design, interpretation of data, critical writing and revising of the manuscript and final approval of the manuscript. JMAvdB: Analysis and Eltanexor mouse interpretation of data, critical writing and revising, final approval of manuscript.

KS and KB: Executing experiments, analysis of data, approval of manuscript. JJTHR: Analysis and interpretation of data, approval of manuscript. GvA: Executing experiments, analysis and interpretation of data. TK: Interpretation of data approval of manuscript. BEEM: Interpretation of data, critical writing and revising of the manuscript and final approval of the manuscript. JCMM and ADMEO: Concept and design, analysis and interpretation of data, critical writing and revising of the manuscript and final approval of the manuscript.All AZD1080 authors read and approved the final manuscript.”
“Background The red palm weevil (RPW) Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is widely considered the most damaging insect pest of palms in the world, even in all the countries where it has been accidentally introduced [1]. RPW larvae

feed within the apical growing point of the palms, producing a wet fermenting frass inside the tunnels [2], creating extensive damage to palm tissues and weakening the structure of the palm trunk; the resulting damage is often only visible long after infestation, when palms are close

to death [3–5] (Additional file 1). Insect intestinal tracts harbour rich communities of non-pathogenic microorganisms [6, 7] and a single gut can harbour 105–109 prokaryotic cells [6] that have been affiliated to twenty-six phyla, at least for the insects studied to date [8]. It is increasingly evident that the microbiota of animals (humans included) plays a remarkable role in the host life. The genetic wealth of the microbiota affects all aspects of the holobiont’s (host plus all of its Proton pump inhibitor associated microorganisms) fitness such as adaptation, survival, development, growth, reproduction and evolution [9]. When not strictly AZD1152 in vitro essential for survival, the insect gut microbiota affects many aspects of host phenotype; it can increase the digestive efficiency of soluble plant polysaccharides [10, 11] and can mediate interactions between the host and potential pathogens [12]. Recent work suggests that the gut microbiota not only provide nutrients, but is also involved in the development and maintenance of the host immune system. However, the complexity, dynamics and types of interactions between the insect hosts and their gut microbiota are far from being well understood [13].