Speaker
Description
The flourishing of nutrient-providing and pathogen-suppressing microbiota is a prerequisite within the ontogenetic environment of Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies. In different plant substrates, larvae achieve higher developmental success with autochthonous vs. allochthonous microbial symbionts, vertically inherited through fecal matter deposition by egg-laying females. This indicates that certain groups of microbes contribute to maintaining developmental stability in a changing environment, but which and how many microbial symbionts are key to successful developmental niche construction? And which mechanisms regulate microbial dynamics that feedback on insect phenotypic trait expression? In our study, we aim to create a standardized gnotobiotic fly model that can be manipulated to mirror the environmental changes faced by D. melanogaster in the wild. We are establishing a substrate-specific library of symbiont bacteria and fungi from fly populations maintained in various environments. We will present simplified microbiota used to quantify dynamics in symbiont succession and explore their individual and combined capacity to nourish larvae and/or defend them against pathogens. In particular, we are interested in how symbiont dynamics feedback on the quality of insects’ ontogenetic environment and shape their phenotypes when flies are subject to environmental variation in plant substrate properties and abiotic stressors.
