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Updated: Nov 9, 2025
Rearing the Fruit Fly Drosophila melanogaster Under Axenic and Gnotobiotic Conditions
Published on: July 30, 2016
Meta-analysis suggests the microbiome responds to Evolve and Resequence experiments in Drosophila melanogaster
Lucas P Henry1,2, Julien F Ayroles3,4
1Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, 150 Carl Icahn Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA. lhenry@princeton.edu.
Background:
Experimental evolution has a long history of uncovering fundamental insights into evolutionary processes, but has largely neglected one underappreciated component--the microbiome. As eukaryotic hosts evolve, the microbiome may also respond to selection. However, the microbial contribution to host evolution remains poorly understood. Here, we re-analyzed genomic data to characterize the metagenomes from ten Evolve and Resequence (E&R) experiments in Drosophila melanogaster to determine how the microbiome changed in response to host selection.
Results:
Bacterial diversity was significantly different in 5/10 studies, primarily in traits associated with metabolism or immunity. Duration of selection did not significantly influence bacterial diversity, highlighting the importance of associations with specific host traits.
Conclusions:
Our genomic re-analysis suggests the microbiome often responds to host selection; thus, the microbiome may contribute to the response of Drosophila in E&R experiments. We outline important considerations for incorporating the microbiome into E&R experiments. The E&R approach may provide critical insights into host-microbiome interactions and fundamental insight into the genomic basis of adaptation.
