Abstract

Regional soil conditions may affect edible insect nutrients through associated changes in host plants and bacterial communities, but these relationships remain poorly understood. Here, we compared soils, soybean leaves, larval gut bacteria, and nutritional composition of Clanis bilineata tsingtauica across three sites. Soil nutrient parameters were measured before and after larval inoculation, bacterial communities were analyzed in soil, leaves, and larvae, and larval amino acid, protein, and fatty acid profiles were determined. Available potassium increased 1.17-fold in Lianyungang; several nutrients decreased in Huaian, whereas soil pH decreased by 4.0% in Nanjing. Larvae from Lianyungang contained higher levels of several amino acids (Serine, Glycine, etc.), whereas those from Huaian had higher saturated and unsaturated fatty acid contents (Stearic acid, Elaidic acid, etc.). Genus-level overlap analysis showed partial taxonomic overlap among soil, leaves, and larvae, and the number of shared genera generally declined from soil to leaves to larvae, consistent with compartment-specific filtering. Correlation analyses further indicated that soil nutrients, especially available phosphorus and available potassium, were significantly correlated with dominant bacterial genera and with specific larval amino acid and fatty acid traits. Overall, these findings suggest that regional soil background is associated with coordinated variation in soybean-associated bacteria, larval gut bacteria, and the nutritional composition of C. bilineata tsingtauica larvae.

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