title: Drosophila Genotype Influences Commensal Bacterial Levels.
abstract: Host genotype can influence the composition of the commensal bacterial community in some organisms. Composition, however, is only one parameter describing a microbial community. Here, we test whether a second parameter-abundance of bacteria-is a heritable trait by quantifying the presence of four commensal bacterial strains within 36 gnotobiotic inbred lines of Drosophila melanogaster. We find that D. melanogaster genotype exerts a significant effect on microbial levels within the fly. When introduced as monocultures into axenic flies, three of the four bacterial strains were reliably detected within the fly. The amounts of these different strains are strongly correlated, suggesting that the host regulates commensal bacteria through general, not bacteria-specific, means. While the correlation does not appear to be driven by simple variation in overall gut dimensions, a genetic association study suggests that variation in commensal bacterial load may largely be attributed to physical aspects of host cell growth and development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.|Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Angela M
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3169-2324
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Early
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Niroshan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shanmugarajah
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Buchon
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.|Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Andrew G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Clark
mesh_terms: D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D005838:Genotype; D005856:Germ-Free Life; D064307:Microbiota / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial