Selkrig, J., Mohammad, F., Ng, S.H. et al. The Drosophila microbiome has a limited influence on sleep, activity, and courtship behaviors. Sci Rep 8, 10646 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28764-5
Abstract:
In animals, commensal microbes modulate various physiological functions, including behavior. While microbiota exposure is required for normal behavior in mammals, it is not known how widely this dependency is present in other animal species. We proposed the hypothesis that the microbiome has a major influence on the behavior of the vinegar fly (Drosophila melanogaster), a major invertebrate model organism. Several assays were used to test the contribution of the microbiome on some well-characterized behaviors: defensive behavior, sleep, locomotion, and courtship in microbe-bearing, control flies and two generations of germ-free animals. None of the behaviors were largely influenced by the absence of a microbiome, and the small or moderate effects were not generalizable between replicates and/or generations. These results refute the hypothesis, indicating that the Drosophila microbiome does not have a major influence over several behaviors fundamental to the animal’s survival and reproduction. The impact of commensal microbes on animal behaviour may not be broadly conserved.
License type:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Funding Info:
We thank Shimadzu Asia Pacific for generously providing access to the GC-MS instrument. FM, JYC and ACC were supported by grants MOE-2013-T2-2-054 from the Ministry of Education; JH was supported by the A*STAR Scientific Scholars Fund. TT was supported by a Singapore International Graduate Award from the A*STAR Graduate Academy. ACC was supported by grants 1231AFG030 and 1431AFG120 from the A*STAR Joint Council Office. FM, JYC, TT and ACC were supported by a Biomedical Research Council block grant to the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology and by a Ministry of Health block grant to Duke-NUS Medical School. JYY was supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation (grant NRF-RF2010-06). JS and SP were supported by grants from LKC School of Medicine SUG, Swedish Grant VR and SCELSE.