Assessing the role of host-microbe interaction in adaptation using Drosophila melanogaster and acetic acid bacteria as a model
Final Report Abstract
Using the Drosophila-Gluconobacter symbiosis as a model, the aim of the project was to better understand how hosts and microbes interact in an environment where resources are often ephemeral, rich in sugar, but poor in amino acids. In the research, we planned to focus on bacterial symbionts that have received less attention so far, to reveal molecular underpinnings of this interaction and how they affect environmental adaptation of the partners. For this, we used wild-caught flies and their symbionts collected under natural conditions. Performing a microbial Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS), we unraveled and functionally tested molecular underpinnings of bacteria-mediated fly fitness. We pinpoint the thiamine biosynthesis pathway (TBP) as contributing to differences in fitness conferred to the fly host. While an effect of thiamine on fly development has been described, we show that strain variation in TBP between bacterial isolates from wild-caught D. melanogaster contributes to variation in offspring production by the host. By tracing the evolutionary history of TBP genes in Gluconobacter, we find that TBP genes were most likely lost and reacquired by horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Our study emphasizes the importance of strain variation and highlights that HGT can add to microbiome flexibility and potentially to host adaptation.
Publications
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Common structuring principles of the Drosophila melanogaster microbiome on a continental scale and between host and substrate. Environmental Microbiology Reports, 12(2), 220-228.
Wang, Yun; Kapun, Martin; Waidele, Lena; Kuenzel, Sven; Bergland, Alan O. & Staubach, Fabian
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Genomic Analysis of European Drosophila melanogaster Populations Reveals Longitudinal Structure, Continent-Wide Selection, and Previously Unknown DNA Viruses. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 37(9), 2661-2678.
Kapun, Martin; Barrón, Maite G.; Staubach, Fabian; Obbard, Darren J.; Wiberg, R. Axel W.; Vieira, Jorge; Goubert, Clément; Rota-Stabelli, Omar; Kankare, Maaria; Bogaerts-Márquez, María; Haudry, Annabelle; Waidele, Lena; Kozeretska, Iryna; Pasyukova, Elena G.; Loeschcke, Volker; Pascual, Marta; Vieira, Cristina P.; Serga, Svitlana; Montchamp-Moreau, Catherine ... & González, Josefa
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Drosophila Evolution over Space and Time (DEST): A New Population Genomics Resource. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38(12), 5782-5805.
Kapun, Martin; Nunez, Joaquin C. B.; Bogaerts-Márquez, María; Murga-Moreno, Jesús; Paris, Margot; Outten, Joseph; Coronado-Zamora, Marta; Tern, Courtney; Rota-Stabelli, Omar; Guerreiro, Maria P. García; Casillas, Sònia; Orengo, Dorcas J.; Puerma, Eva; Kankare, Maaria; Ometto, Lino; Loeschcke, Volker; Onder, Banu S.; Abbott, Jessica K.; Schaeffer, Stephen W. ... & Bergland, Alan O.
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Horizontal gene transfer-mediated bacterial strain variation affects host fitness in Drosophila. BMC Biology, 19(1).
Wang, Yun; Baumdicker, Franz; Schweiger, Paul; Kuenzel, Sven & Staubach, Fabian
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The discovery, distribution, and diversity of DNA viruses associated withDrosophila melanogasterin Europe. Virus Evolution, 7(1).
Wallace, Megan A.; Coffman, Kelsey A.; Gilbert, Clément; Ravindran, Sanjana; Albery, Gregory F.; Abbott, Jessica; Argyridou, Eliza; Bellosta, Paola; Betancourt, Andrea J.; Colinet, Hervé; Eric, Katarina; Glaser-Schmitt, Amanda; Grath, Sonja; Jelic, Mihailo; Kankare, Maaria; Kozeretska, Iryna; Loeschcke, Volker; Montchamp-Moreau, Catherine; Ometto, Lino ... & Obbard, Darren J.
