Microbe-dependent and nonspecific effects of procedures to eliminate the resident microbiota from Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: Comparisons of animals bearing and lacking microorganisms can offer valuable insight into the interactions between animal hosts and their resident microbiota. Most hosts are naturally infected, and therefore, these comparisons require specific procedures (e.g., antibiotic treatment or physical exclusion of microorganisms) to disrupt the microbiota, but the potential for confounding nonspecific effects of the procedure on the traits of the host exists. Microbe-dependent and nonspecific effects can be discriminated by using multiple procedures: microbe-dependent effects are evident in hosts made microbe free by different procedures, but nonspecific effects are unique to individual procedures. As a demonstration, two procedures, oral administration of chlortetracycline (50 μg ml(-1) diet) and

SUBMITTER: Ridley EV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3685244 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature