Abstract
Microorganisms play a central role in the biology of vinegar flies such as Drosophila suzukii and Drosophila melanogaster: serving as a food source to both adults and larvae, and influencing a range of traits including nutrition, behavior, and development. The niches utilized by the fly species partially overlap, as do the microbiota that sustain them, and interactions among these players may drive the development of crop diseases. To learn more about how the microbiota of one species may affect the other, we isolated and identified microbes from field-caught D. suzukii, and then characterized their effects on D. melanogaster larval development time in the laboratory. We found that the D. suzukii microbiota consistently included both yeasts and bacteria. It was dominated by yeasts of the genus Hanseniaspora, and bacteria from the families Acetobacteraceae and Enterobacteriaceae. Raising D. melanogaster under gnotobiotic conditions with each microbial isolate individually, we found that some bacteria promoted larval development relative to axenic conditions, but most did not have a significant effect. In contrast, nearly all the yeasts tested significantly accelerated larval development. The one exception was Starmerella bacillaris, which had the opposite effect: significantly slowing larval developmental rate. We investigated the basis for this effect by examining whether S. bacillaris cells could sustain larval growth, and measuring the survival of S. bacillaris and other yeasts in the larval gut. Our results suggest S. bacillaris is not digested by D. melanogaster and therefore cannot serve as a source of nutrition. These findings have interesting implications for possible interactions between the two Drosophilia species and their microbiota in nature. Overall, we found that microbes isolated from D. suzukii promote D. melanogaster larval development, which is consistent with the model that infestation of fruit by D. suzukii can open up habitat for D. melanogaster. We propose that the microbiome is an important dimension of the ecological interactions between Drosophila species.
Highlights
Microorganisms are an integral part of animal biology (McFall-Ngai et al, 2013)
More viable Starmerella bacillaris cells in larvae compared to other yeasts Given the evidence that S. bacillaris cannot serve as a source of nutrition for Drosophila larvae, we investigated whether S. bacillaris cells are ingested by larvae and if they differ from other yeasts in their ability to survive consumption by larvae
We investigated how microbes isolated from D. suzukii could impact D. melanogaster larval development to learn more about potential interactions between these species
Summary
Microorganisms are an integral part of animal biology (McFall-Ngai et al, 2013). This is especially true for Drosophila species, whose associated microbes are known to affect nutrition, immunity, and a range of other traits Drosophila melanogaster has been the focus of a great deal of research into the mechanisms of host-microbiota interactions (Buchon, Broderick & Lemaitre, 2013; Douglas, 2018). D. melanogaster has emerged as a useful model for studying ecological interactions that shape the assembly of microbial communities (Adair et al, 2018). The possibility of integrating knowledge across scales, from the molecular to the ecological, makes this a very promising system for these investigations
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
