Bacterial communities of diverse Drosophila species: ecological context of a host-microbe model system.

ABSTRACT: Drosophila melanogaster is emerging as an important model of non-pathogenic host-microbe interactions. The genetic and experimental tractability of Drosophila has led to significant gains in our understanding of animal-microbial symbiosis. However, the full implications of these results cannot be appreciated without the knowledge of the microbial communities associated with natural Drosophila populations. In particular, it is not clear whether laboratory cultures can serve as an accurate model of host-microbe interactions that occur in the wild, or those that have occurred over evolutionary time. To fill this gap, we characterized natural bacterial communities associated with 14 species of Drosophila and related genera collected from distant geographic locations. To represent the ecologica

SUBMITTER: Chandler JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3178584 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature