An Insight into Biology, Function and Pest Management Guidance of Gut Microbiota in Spodoptera frugiperda

Gut microbial community research has garnered considerable attention due to its pivotal role in shaping diverse insect hosts' life-history traits, with key studies confirming that insect gut microbiota is vital for core physiological processes including growth, nutrient metabolism, nitrogen fixation, pheromone biosynthesis, and environmental adaptation. Findings highlight that integrating insect ecology understanding with gut microbial community characterization is indispensable for innovative pest management strategies. Notably, <i>S. frugiperda</i>, a globally destructive agricultural pest causing substantial annual economic losses, has been extensively investigated. Its host range is extremely wide, from staple food crops such as corn and rice to various cash crops. This review systematically synthesizes the prevalent diversity of its gut's dominant microbes, clarifies the important mechanism of gut microbiota in host stress adaptation (providing direct evidence for explaining the pest's stress resistance formation), draws the key conclusion that host-microbe interaction mechanisms can serve as key pest management targets to guide more targeted control technologies. We also discuss current limitations such as inadequate microbial function verification and unclear host-microbe molecular mechanisms while outlining future directions including focusing on microbial community dynamic changes under multiple environmental stresses and functional microbe screening and application.