title: Phylogenetic, metabolic, and taxonomic diversities shape mediterranean fruit fly microbiotas during ontogeny.
abstract: The Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly) (Ceratitis capitata) lays eggs in fruits, where larvae subsequently develop, causing large-scale agricultural damage. Within its digestive tract, the fly supports an extended bacterial community that is composed of multiple strains of a variety of enterobacterial species. Most of these bacteria appear to be functionally redundant, with most strains sustaining diazotrophy and/or pectinolysis. At least some of these bacteria were shown to be vertically inherited, but colonization, structural, and metabolic aspects of the community's dynamics have not been investigated. We used fluorescent in situ hybridization, metabolic profiling, plate cultures, and pyrosequencing to show that an initial, egg-borne, diverse community expands throughout the fly's life cycle. While keeping "core" diazotrophic and pectinolytic functions, it also harbors diverse and fluctuating populations that express varied metabolic capabilities. We suggest that the metabolic and compositional plasticity of the fly's microbiota provides potential adaptive advantages to the medfly host and that its acquisition and dynamics are affected by mixed processes that include stochastic effects, host behavior, and molecular barriers.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Microbiology.
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aharon
authors.forename: Zohar
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Pasternak
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ben Yosef
authors.forename: Adi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Behar
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lauzon
authors.forename: Boaz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yuval
authors.forename: Edouard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jurkevitch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D058448:Biota; D033622:Ceratitis capitata / Q000382:microbiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology; D009586:Nitrogen Fixation; D010368:Pectins / Q000378:metabolism; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D010368:Pectins