ABSTRACT
Recent estimations from various studies suggest that the total number of insect species ranges between 2.8–30 × 10; an estimate of 5.5 × 10 is probably closer to reality (Stork et al. 2015; Stork 2018). Insect species have established sophisticated symbiotic associations with a plethora of diverse microorganisms including bacterial species. These symbiotic associations can drastically influence the biology, ecology, and evolution of insect hosts, including insect species of agricultural, veterinary, and human-health importance (Margulis and Fester 1991; Zilber-Rosenberg and Rosenberg 2008). Despite the widespread presence of symbiosis, only in the last decades have technological advances enabled us to take a first glance at the complexity of such interactions, at least at the genomic level. Although studies increasingly describe and assess different possible effects of insects’ symbionts on their hosts, including in mosquitoes, tsetse flies, and other pest and disease-vector species, this chapter summarizes the knowledge, gained mainly in the last two decades, on the structure and importance of gut symbiotic communities of tephritid fruit flies of economic importance, focusing mainly on their beneficial impact and prospects for improvement in the sterile insect technique (SIT).
