Host determinants of among-species variation in microbiome composition in drosophilid flies

Abstract

The taxonomic composition of microbial communities in animals varies among animal species, but the contribution of interspecific differences in filtering of the microbial pool by the animal host to this variation is uncertain. Here, we demonstrate significant interspecific variation in microbial community composition among laboratory-reared Drosophila species that was not related to host phylogeny. Complementary reciprocal transfer experiments yielded different microbial communities for a single microbiota administered to homologous and heterologous hosts (i.e., the same and different Drosophila species from which the microbiota was derived), indicative of among-host species differences in traits that shape microbiota composition. The difference in microbiota composition between homologous and heterologous hosts was not greater for distantly related than for closely related host species pairs. Furthermore, Drosophila survival to adulthood was significantly reduced in heterologous associations relative to homologous associations and microbiologically sterile flies, suggesting that microbial taxa that are advantageous for their homologous host species can be deleterious for other host species. We conclude that drosophilid flies display robust among-host species variation in host controls over microbiota composition that has diversified in response to selection pressures which are not tracked by host phylogeny.

Microbial interactions in the mosquito gut determine Serratia colonization and blood-feeding propensity

“…While it was evident that the Thailand line has a particularly divergent microbiome, the microbiomes of the Juchitan, Galveston, and Iquitos lines were also distinct from each other. This is contrary to a recent finding [41], and suggests that similarity in microbiomes driven by environmental factors is not universal, and host or bacterial factors also play a role in microbiota community assembly and can lead to microbiome divergence, as shown in Drosophila [81,82]. Here we demonstrate in mosquitoes that host genotype profoundly alters bacterial microbiome composition.…”

Common structuring principles of the Drosophila melanogaster microbiome on a continental scale and between host and substrate

“…Taken together our data are consistent with low but highly specific levels of filtering in the host environment likely providing an overall fitness benefit to the host. This is also supported by recent work showing in a multi‐species framework that there are host determinants of microbiome variation between Drosophilids that increase fly fitness (Adair et al ., ). Low levels of host filtering that benefit the host meet the expectations of the ‘ecosystem on a leash model’ (Foster et al ., ), where the host‐associated microbiome is allowed to vary, but the microbes directly affecting host fitness experience filtering.…”

Ontogeny, species identity, and environment dominate microbiome dynamics in wild populations of kissing bugs (Triatominae)

“…To establish a basic background for studying the dynamics and potential function of Triatominae microbiomes, we need to elucidate the main factors determining their composition. In other systems, microbiomes usually display species specificity, i.e., they differ even among closely related host taxa (e.g., [34]). In some cases, the differences reflect the phylogenetic relationships of the hosts (phylosymbiosis, e.g., [35]).…”