REVIEW article
Front. Microbiomes
Sec. Host and Microbe Associations
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frmbi.2025.1517715
The Integral Role of the Black Soldier Fly, Hermetia illucens L., Microbiota in its Life History
Provisionally accepted
- Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Rishon LeZion, Israel
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The Black Soldier fly (BSF), Hermetia illucens, exhibit versatile bioconversion abilities and effectively transform various waste materials into a nutritious biomass suitable for consumption. The degradation ability of BSF larvae has been attributed to their gut microbiota.Therefore, This review explores the role of the BSF microbiota throughout the BSF life stages in the bioconversion, focusing on the BSF larvae and its microbiota. We reflect on the microbiota's contribution to life cycle aspects, growth, reproduction, immune response, and waste breakdown. The key points discussed include the gut microbiota in organic waste bioconversion by BSF larvae, the role of microbiota in BSF oviposition and growth throughout its life history, and microbiota's role in immunity with a specific focus on antimicrobial peptides. Where knowledge gaps were identified for BSF, we provide examples of closely related dipteran insects or insects with well-studied microbiota functioning. The significant role of the BSF gut microbiota is enabling its versatile waste degradation while conferring protection against pathogens and xenobiotic compounds. As such, we discuss the future perspectives that microbiome engineering may offer for BSF.
Keywords: Black soldier fly, bacterial community, protection, Nutrient provision, Gut Microbiota
Received: 26 Oct 2024; Accepted: 10 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ment and Mishra. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dana Ment, Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Rishon LeZion, Israel
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.