Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 4, 2026

Application of Flow Vermimetry for Quantification and Analysis of the Caenorhabditis elegans Gut Microbiome
Published on: March 31, 2023
Contradictory Results in Microbiome Science Exemplified by Recent Drosophila Research
1Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA aes326@cornell.edu.
Abstract:
The bacterium Lactobacillus plantarum is prevalent in animal guts and is widely regarded as beneficial and probiotic. D. Fast et al. (mBio 9:e01114-18, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01114-18) make the surprising discovery that L. plantarum reduces the life span of Drosophila melanogaster and link this effect with the loss and weakened proliferation of stem cells in the Drosophila gut. These results are apparently at odds with published evidence for beneficial effects of L. plantarum, especially promoting high developmental rates and stimulating stem cell proliferation in young Drosophila The among-study discrepancies highlight the context dependence of many effects of gut microbes on host health, likely influenced by host age and genotype, variation among bacterial strains, and diet. The diversity of results offers an opportunity to elucidate a fundamental mechanism(s) and the circumstances that dictate whether gut bacteria have positive or negative effects on host health. These studies also reinforce the value of Drosophila as an emerging model system for probiotic science.
Related Concept Videos
Psychology as a Science
The scientific method in psychology involves six critical steps: making observations, formulating hypotheses, conducting tests, analyzing...
Overview of Biostatistics in Health Sciences
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
SPSS streamlines the process from data preparation to analysis and reporting. It is characterized by its user-friendly interface, which conceals...
Cognitive Dissonance
Secondary Active Transport
Types of Radioactivity
Alpha (α) decay is the emission of an α particle from the nucleus. For example, polonium-210 undergoes α decay:

