Gut cancer increases the risk of Drosophila being preyed upon by hunting spiders

Abstract

Predators are thought to prey on individuals that are in poor physical condition, although the evidence supporting this is ambiguous. We tested whether sick individuals were more predated using Drosophila melanogaster flies as manipulable prey. We asked whether hunting spiders, trapped from the wild, would selectively prey upon flies with compromised health (i.e. chronically infected or cancerous) versus healthy flies, under laboratory conditions. Flies chronically infected with the bacterium Providencia rettgeri , a natural Drosophila pathogen, were not selectively preyed upon by jumping spiders. We strengthened and confirmed our finding with another hunting spider species, small wolf spiders. This result supports the hypothesis that chronic infection is associated with reduced symptoms notably to avoid the potentially deadly consequences for pathogens of host predation. We then induced colon cancer in some of the flies and asked whether the presence of cancer led to selective predation; there is little empirical evidence for this, even in vertebrates. As the cancer developed, the incidence of predation by jumping spiders on the afflicted flies increased. We conclude that disease can have different lethal consequences through predation, even in invertebrate species, and that cancer is a factor in selective predation. Our results may explain why early tumours, but not metastasized cancers, are commonly detected in organisms in the wild, as cancer-bearing individuals are rapidly eliminated due to the strong selective pressure against them. • Chronic infection of Drosophila did not significantly affect the risk of predation. • Predation may play a role in selection of symptoms of chronic infections. • Hyperplasia in Drosophila gut did not change predation risk by jumping spiders. • Advanced cancer in Drosophila gut increased predation risk by jumping spiders. • Selective predation may explain why cancer is rarely detected in wild populations.