Bacteria–diet interactions affect longevity in the medfly –Ceratitis capitata

Abstract

Mediterranean fruit flies (Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann, Dipt.: Tephritidae) harbour a diverse community of bacteria in their digestive system. This microbiota may have important functions impacting on the fly’s fitness. Recently, we described the effect of eliminating intestinal bacteria on the reproductive success of C. capitata males and females. Here, we expand the view on the nature of fly–bacteria interactions by examining the effect of bacteria on male and female longevity. Antibiotics were used to suppress the gut bacterial community and mortality rates were compared between antibiotic‐treated and non‐treated flies when either nutritionally stressed (maintained on sugar) or provided with a full diet. These tests revealed that eliminating the gut bacterial population prolonged longevity, but only when flies were nutritionally stressed, indicating that the effect of bacteria on lifespan was diet dependent. Considering these results in light of other known effects of bacteria on fitness components of the fly demonstrates a cost‐benefit relationship between C. capitata and its gut microbiota.

Improving sterile male performance in support of programmes integrating the sterile insect technique against fruit flies

“…The same was found in A. ludens and A. obliqua when the sugar/yeast ratio was 9:1 or 24:1, but not with the 3:1 ratio ) Inhibition of remating Feeding on a nitrogen-rich food significantly improved the ability of sterile males to inhibit female remating in A. fraterculus, B. tryoni and C. capitata (Harmer et al 2006;Radhakrishnan and Taylor 2007;Gavriel et al 2009;Segura et al 2013 The contribution of microorganisms to fitness of non-sterile Bactrocera oleae and C. capitata was established Ben-Yosef et al 2008aYuval et al 2013) Manipulating the microflora of sterile males suggests that probiotic supplements could improve male sexual performance in C. capitata (Niyazi et al 2004;Behar et al 2005Behar et al , 2008aBen-Ami et al 2010) these phenomena, to extend them to other species, and to transfer and validate them under large-scale conditions of action SIT programmes. Results obtained during the CRP have confirmed the compounds that have the potential to improve sterile male performance in the field and have identified some additional ones.…”

Food availability affects the strength of mutualistic host–microbiota interactions in Daphnia magna

“…For example, de Vries et al (2004) found that bacteria belonging to the genus Erwinia, present in the gut of western flower thrips, were parasitic under a high-quality diet but mutualistic when the thrips were given a nutrient-poor diet, indicating that these symbionts benefit their host only in nutritionally poor environments. In contrast, Ben-Yosef et al (2008) found that the gut microbiota of Mediterranean fruit flies (Ceratitis capitata) can negatively affect longevity and egg deposition, but only when the hosts feed on a low-quality diet. These contrasting results imply that the strength and direction in which hostmicrobiota interactions change under different dietary conditions cannot be easily predicted.…”

Insect “Symbiology” Is Coming of Age, Bridging Between Bench and Field

“…As seen above, gut bacteria inferred a cost to nutritionally-stressed hosts (Ben Yosef et al 2008b). However, the addition of a mixture of Enterobacteriaceae at high concentration to sugar-fed flies increased longevity.…”

“…This, in turn, can provide an advantage when the environment in which the larva develops may change from generation to generation, as in a highly polyphagous insect like the medfly. Holding such a diverse community at the adult stage may come with a cost: Antibiotic-treated, nutritionally stressed flies lived significantly shorter lives than control flies or flies fed a full diet (with or without antibiotics) (Ben Yosef et al 2008b). …”