scholarly journals Genetic Influences of the Microbiota on the Life Span of Drosophila melanogaster

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda K. Matthews ◽  
Hailey Wilcox ◽  
Rachel Hughes ◽  
Madeline Veloz ◽  
Austin Hammer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Vitamin B ◽  
Methionine Metabolism ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Methionine Restriction ◽  
Host Life ◽  
Bacterial Genes

ABSTRACT To better understand how associated microorganisms (“microbiota”) influence organismal aging, we focused on the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. We conducted a metagenome-wide association (MGWA) as a screen to identify bacterial genes associated with variation in the D. melanogaster life span. The results of the MGWA predicted that bacterial cysteine and methionine metabolism genes influence fruit fly longevity. A mutant analysis, in which flies were inoculated with Escherichia coli strains bearing mutations in various methionine cycle genes, confirmed a role for some methionine cycle genes in extending or shortening fruit fly life span. Initially, we predicted these genes might influence longevity by mimicking or opposing methionine restriction, an established mechanism for life span extension in fruit flies. However, follow-up transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) and metabolomic experiments were generally inconsistent with this conclusion and instead implicated glucose and vitamin B6 metabolism in these influences. We then tested if bacteria could influence life span through methionine restriction using a different set of bacterial strains. Flies reared with a bacterial strain that ectopically expressed bacterial transsulfuration genes and lowered the methionine content of the fly diet also extended female D. melanogaster life span. Taken together, the microbial influences shown here overlap with established host genetic mechanisms for aging and therefore suggest overlapping roles for host and microbial metabolism genes in organismal aging. IMPORTANCE Associated microorganisms (“microbiota”) are intimately connected to the behavior and physiology of their animal hosts, and defining the mechanisms of these interactions is an urgent imperative. This study focuses on how microorganisms influence the life span of a model host, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. First, we performed a screen that suggested a strong influence of bacterial methionine metabolism on host life span. Follow-up analyses of gene expression and metabolite abundance identified stronger roles for vitamin B6 and glucose than methionine metabolism among the tested mutants, possibly suggesting a more limited role for bacterial methionine metabolism genes in host life span effects. In a parallel set of experiments, we created a distinct bacterial strain that expressed life span-extending methionine metabolism genes and showed that this strain can extend fly life span. Therefore, this work identifies specific bacterial genes that influence host life span, including in ways that are consistent with the expectations of methionine restriction.

scholarly journals Monoassociation withLactobacillus plantarumDisrupts Intestinal Homeostasis in AdultDrosophila melanogaster

mBio ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Fast ◽  
Aashna Duggal ◽  
Edan Foley
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
Simple Model ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Lactobacillus Plantarum ◽  
Adult Longevity ◽  
Intestinal Homeostasis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cell Divisions ◽  
Stem Cell Divisions

ABSTRACTAdultDrosophila melanogasterraised in the absence of symbiotic bacteria have fewer intestinal stem cell divisions and a longer life span than their conventionally reared counterparts. However, we do not know if increased stem cell divisions are essential for symbiont-dependent regulation of longevity. To determine if individual symbionts cause aging-dependent death inDrosophila, we examined the impacts of common symbionts on host longevity. We found that monoassociation of adultDrosophilawithLactobacillus plantarum, a widely reported fly symbiont and member of the probioticLactobacillusgenus, curtails adult longevity relative to germfree counterparts. The effects ofLactobacillus plantarumon life span were independent of intestinal aging. Instead, we found that association withLactobacillus plantarumcauses an extensive intestinal pathology within the host, characterized by loss of stem cells, impaired epithelial renewal, and a gradual erosion of epithelial ultrastructure. Our study uncovers an unknown aspect ofLactobacillus plantarum-Drosophilainteractions and establishes a simple model to characterize symbiont-dependent disruption of intestinal homeostasis.IMPORTANCEUnder homeostatic conditions, gut bacteria provide molecular signals that support the organization and function of the host intestine. Sudden shifts in the composition or distribution of gut bacterial communities impact host receipt of bacterial cues and disrupt tightly regulated homeostatic networks. We used theDrosophila melanogastermodel to determine the effects of prominent fly symbionts on host longevity and intestinal homeostasis. We found that monoassociation withLactobacillus plantarumleads to a loss of intestinal progenitor cells, impaired epithelial renewal, and disruption of gut architecture as flies age. These observations uncover a novel phenotype caused by monoassociation of a germfree host with a common symbiont and establish a simple model to characterize symbiont-dependent loss of intestinal homeostasis.

scholarly journals Genome Sequence of Acetobacter tropicalis DmPark25_167, a Bacterium Isolated from a Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Model of Parkinson’s Disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie A. Goddard ◽  
Samara C. Petersen ◽  
Gerald B. Call ◽  
John M. Chaston
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Genome Sequence ◽  
Bacterial Strain ◽  
Genetic Model ◽  
Type Iv Secretion ◽  
Methionine Metabolism ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Type Iv

ABSTRACT Here, we report the genome of Acetobacter tropicalis DmPark25_167, a bacterial strain isolated from a Drosophila melanogaster park25 mutant. The park25 mutant is an established genetic model of Parkinson’s disease. DmPark25_167 has duplicated methionine metabolism and type IV secretion gene alleles compared with another strain of A. tropicalis.

The Male Silkworm Moth (Antheraea pernyi) is a Key Ingredient in Hu-Bao and Sheng-Bao for Specific Prolongation of the Life-Span of the Male Fruit Fly (Drosophila melanogaster)

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (02n03) ◽  
pp. 263-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Hu ◽  
Qiongmei Wang ◽  
Paul Q. Hu
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Natural Products ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Culture Medium ◽  
Specific Effect ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Health Products ◽  
Significant Life

It is well established in Traditional Chinese Medicine that certain natural products, such as male silkworm moths, have different therapeutic effects on men than on women. These natural products have been used as dietary supplements specifically formulated for men or for women. However, this presumed sex-specific effect of certain natural products has not yet been confirmed experimentally with animal models or in human clinical trials. Here, using the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) as a longevity model, we examined the effect of Hu-Bao (HB) and Seng-Bao (SB), two marketed health products made from a mixture of natural ingredients. Our results convincingly demonstrate that the effect of HB and SB are indeed specific for the male fly. The life-span of the male was significantly increased when HB or SB was added to the culture medium. In contrast, neither HB nor SB had much effect on the female fly. Upon removal of the male silkworm moth ingredient from HB or SB, the life-span prolongation effect of HB and SB was drastically diminished. Only with the addition of the male silkworm moth did the culture medium show a statistically significant life-span prolongation effect. This result suggests that the male silkworm moth is a key ingredient, in combination with other components, for specific prolongation of the life-span of male flies.

scholarly journals The Nutritional Environment Influences the Impact of Microbes on Drosophila melanogaster Life Span

mBio ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin S. Keebaugh ◽  
Ryuichi Yamada ◽  
William W. Ja
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Nutritional Value ◽  
Microbial Growth ◽  
Culture Medium ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Microbe Interactions ◽  
Nutritional Environment ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT Microbes can extend Drosophila melanogaster life span by contributing to the nutritional value of malnourishing fly culture medium. The beneficial effect of microbes during malnutrition is dependent on their individual ability to proliferate in the fly environment and is mimicked by lifelong supplementation of equivalent levels of heat-killed microbes or dietary protein, suggesting that microbes can serve directly as a protein-rich food source. Here, we use nutritionally rich fly culture medium to demonstrate how changes in dietary composition influence monocolonized fly life span; microbes that extend fly life span on malnourishing diets can shorten life on rich diets. The mechanisms employed by microbes to affect host health likely differ on low- or high-nutrient diets. Our results demonstrate how Drosophila-associated microbes can positively or negatively influence fly life span depending on the nutritional environment. Although controlled laboratory environments allow focused investigations on the interaction between fly microbiota and nutrition, the relevance of these studies is not straightforward, because it is difficult to mimic the nutritional ecology of natural Drosophila-microbe interactions. As such, caution is needed in designing and interpreting fly-microbe experiments and before categorizing microbes into specific symbiotic roles based on results obtained from experiments testing limited conditions. IMPORTANCE D. melanogaster ingests microorganisms growing within its rotting vegetation diet. Some of these microbes form associations with flies, while others pass through the gut with meals. Fly-microbe-diet interactions are dynamic, and changes to the fly culture medium can influence microbial growth in the overall environment. In turn, these alterations in microbial growth may not only impact the nutritional value of fly meals but also modulate behavior and health, at least in part due to direct contributions to fly nutrition. The interactive ecology between flies, microbes, and their environment can cause a specific microbe to be either beneficial or detrimental to fly life span, indicating that the environment should be considered a key influential factor in host-microbe interactions.

scholarly journals Balance Between Macronutrients Affects Life Span and Functional Senescence in Fruit Fly Drosophila melanogaster

2011 ◽  
Vol 67A (2) ◽  
pp. 118-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. V. Lushchak ◽  
D. V. Gospodaryov ◽  
B. M. Rovenko ◽  
A. D. Glovyak ◽  
I. S. Yurkevych ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Fruit Fly

scholarly journals Impact of Dietary Potassium Nitrate on the Life Span of Drosophila melanogaster

Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1270
Author(s):  
Tomas Liubertas ◽  
Jonas Poderys ◽  
Zigmantaite Vilma ◽  
Sandrija Capkauskiene ◽  
Pranas Viskelis
Keyword(s):  
Nitric Oxide ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Potassium Nitrate ◽  
World Population ◽  
Nitrate Medium ◽  
Locomotor Function

The recently defined and yet rather new topic of healthy aging is attracting more attention worldwide. As the world population is getting older, it is rapidly becoming essential to develop and maintain functional abilities at older age and develop mechanisms to protect the senior population from chronic diseases. One of the most effective components, as well as processes associated with aging, is the recently discovered and Nobel prize-awarded—nitric oxide (NO) (as a signaling molecule), which, followed by later discoveries, showed to have a positive metabolic, immunological, and anti-inflammatory effect. Nitrates are one of the most debated topics of the last decade in the scientific community due to their pathways involved in the production of nitric oxide. Thus, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of different potassium nitrate concentrate supplementation on Drosophila melanogaster longevity imitating a human carbohydrate-based diet with relationship to possible cause of oxidative stress. Influence of 0.5–3% potassium nitrate medium on the lifespan and motor function in different groups consisting of 100 fruit fly females in each was analyzed. In this assay, female fly species supplemented with potassium nitrate diet showed life span increase by 18.6% and 5.1% with 1% and 2% KNO3, respectively, with a positive impact on locomotor function. In conclusion, we found that low concentration of potassium nitrate medium increased lifespan and locomotor function in Drosophila melanogaster.

scholarly journals Mechanisms of Life Span Extension by Rapamycin in the Fruit Fly Drosophila melanogaster

2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Bjedov ◽  
Janne M. Toivonen ◽  
Fiona Kerr ◽  
Cathy Slack ◽  
Jake Jacobson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Life Span Extension

scholarly journals Noninvasive Analysis of Microbiome Dynamics in the Fruit Fly Drosophila melanogaster

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (22) ◽  
pp. 6984-6988 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Fink ◽  
Fabian Staubach ◽  
Sven Kuenzel ◽  
John F. Baines ◽  
Thomas Roeder
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Bacterial Species ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Noninvasive Analysis

ABSTRACTThe diversity and structure of the intestinal microbial community has a strong influence on life history. To understand how hosts and microbes interact, model organisms with comparatively simple microbial communities, such as the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), offer key advantages. However, studies of theDrosophilamicrobiome are limited to a single point in time, because flies are typically sacrificed for DNA extraction. In order to test whether noninvasive approaches, such as sampling of fly feces, could be a means to assess fly-associated communities over time on the same cohort of flies, we compared the microbial communities of fly feces, dissected fly intestines, and whole flies across three differentDrosophilastrains. Bacterial species identified in either whole flies or isolated intestines were reproducibly found in feces samples. Although the bacterial communities of feces and intestinal samples were not identical, they shared similarities and obviously the same origin. In contrast to material from whole flies and intestines, feces samples were not compromised byWolbachiaspp. infections, which are widespread in laboratory and wild strains. In a proof-of-principle experiment, we showed that simple nutritional interventions, such as a high-fat diet or short-term starvation, had drastic and long-lasting effects on the micobiome. Thus, the analysis of feces can supplement the toolbox for microbiome studies inDrosophila, unleashing the full potential of such studies in time course experiments where multiple samples from single populations are obtained during aging, development, or experimental manipulations.

scholarly journals Microbiota-Induced Changes in Drosophila melanogaster Host Gene Expression and Gut Morphology

mBio ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nichole A. Broderick ◽  
Nicolas Buchon ◽  
Bruno Lemaitre
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Gut Morphology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Imd Pathway ◽  
Host Physiology ◽  
Complex Relationships

ABSTRACT To elucidate mechanisms underlying the complex relationships between a host and its microbiota, we used the genetically tractable model Drosophila melanogaster. Consistent with previous studies, the microbiota was simple in composition and diversity. However, analysis of single flies revealed high interfly variability that correlated with differences in feeding. To understand the effects of this simple and variable consortium, we compared the transcriptome of guts from conventionally reared flies to that for their axenically reared counterparts. Our analysis of two wild-type fly lines identified 121 up- and 31 downregulated genes. The majority of these genes were associated with immune responses, tissue homeostasis, gut physiology, and metabolism. By comparing the transcriptomes of young and old flies, we identified temporally responsive genes and showed that the overall impact of microbiota was greater in older flies. In addition, comparison of wild-type gene expression with that of an immune-deficient line revealed that 53% of upregulated genes exerted their effects through the immune deficiency (Imd) pathway. The genes included not only classic immune response genes but also those involved in signaling, gene expression, and metabolism, unveiling new and unexpected connections between immunity and other systems. Given these findings, we further characterized the effects of gut-associated microbes on gut morphology and epithelial architecture. The results showed that the microbiota affected gut morphology through their impacts on epithelial renewal rate, cellular spacing, and the composition of different cell types in the epithelium. Thus, while bacteria in the gut are highly variable, the influence of the microbiota at large has far-reaching effects on host physiology. IMPORTANCE The guts of animals are in constant association with microbes, and these interactions are understood to have important roles in animal development and physiology. Yet we know little about the mechanisms underlying the establishment and function of these associations. Here, we used the fruit fly to understand how the microbiota affects host function. Importantly, we found that the microbiota has far-reaching effects on host physiology, ranging from immunity to gut structure. Our results validate the notion that important insights on complex host-microbe relationships can be obtained from the use of a well-established and genetically tractable invertebrate model.

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