Shifts in Microbiota Influence Mating Choices among Fruit Flies

Abstract

Although commensal microbes are very much in the scientific and medical spotlight, their influences may far exceed our wildest expectations, judging from research presented at the 2012 ASM General Meeting, held in San Francisco, Calif., last June. Commensal microbes can influence behavior, sexual selection, and other evolutionary processes, says Eugene Rosenberg of Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel, who spoke during the plenary session, “Who's in Charge? How Microbes Affect Animal Behavior.”