Contribution of symbiotic microbiota to adaptation of Drosophila melanogaster to an unfavorable growth medium

Abstract

The contribution of symbiotic microbiota to the adaptation of Drosophila melanogaster to fodder with an increased content of NaCl has been analyzed. The reproduction efficiency and the development rate of D. melanogaster on the saline fodder medium, on which a homogenate of flies from laboratory salt-adapted lines and from control lines not adapted to the salt were inoculated, were compared. It was established that inoculating with homogenized salt-adapted flies significantly increased the efficiency of use of salty fodders by flies in comparison with the control flies homogenate, which is manifested in the increased number of offspring produced by a pair of parents over a fixed time, and also in faster larval development. It was noted that the results obtained were consistent with the assumption that the adaptation of D. melanogaster to salted fodder is largely due not to genetic changes in the experimental populations but to changes in the concomitant bacterial and yeast microbiota.