Speaker
Description
The growth of Drosophila melanogaster larvae depend on nutrient-providing and pathogen-suppressing microbial symbionts; these symbionts are transferred through faecal matter deposition by egg-laying females. In different plant substrates, larvae exhibit higher developmental success in the presence of autochthonous versus allochthonous symbionts. This suggests that the capacity of symbiont microbes to maintain a stable development depends on the environmental context. However, the individual contribution of each symbiont to the variation in host developmental success remains unknown. To approach this problem, we have established a collection of microorganisms from microcosms in which Drosophila populations maintain and transfer bacterial and fungal symbionts between insect generations. The microcosms differ in the type of plant substrate, which is expected to be a crucial driver of the symbionts that establish alongside the flies. With this collection in hand, we will be able to create synthetic oligo-symbiont communities to identify key bacterial and fungal symbionts and their specific roles in Drosophila development. By incorporating temporal and spatial variations in substrate availability, we will explore how mutualistic dependence among the insects and specific symbionts, or symbiont consortia is affected. This approach will help us understand how these variations promote or prevent the evolution of host-symbiont specificity in Drosophila.
