Host diet mediates a negative relationship between abundance and diversity of Drosophila gut microbiota

Erkosar, BerraUniv Lausanne, Dept Ecol & Evolut, Lausanne, Switzerland.;Univ Lausanne, Dept Fundamental Microbiol, Lausanne, Switzerland. (author)

Funding Agencies|European Research Council; Swiss National Science Foundation [31003A_162732]; Swedish Research Council; Wenner-Gren Foundation; Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne
Nutrient supply to ecosystems has major effects on ecological diversity, but it is unclear to what degree the shape of this relationship is general versus dependent on the specific environment or community. Although the diet composition in terms of the source or proportions of different nutrient types is known to affect gut microbiota composition, the relationship between the quantity of nutrients supplied and the abundance and diversity of the intestinal microbial community remains to be elucidated. Here, we address this relationship using replicate populations of Drosophila melanogaster maintained over multiple generations on three diets differing in the concentration of yeast (the only source of most nutrients). While a 6.5-fold increase in yeast concentration led to a 100-fold increase in the total abundance of gut microbes, it caused a major decrease in their alpha diversity (by 45-60% depending on the diversity measure). This was accompanied by only minor shifts in the taxonomic affiliation of the most common operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Thus, nutrient concentration in host diet mediates a strong negative relationship between the nutrient abundance and microbial diversity in the Drosophila gut ecosystem.

Yashiro, ErikaUniv Lausanne, Dept Fundamental Microbiol, Lausanne, Switzerland. (author)
Zajitschek, FelixUppsala universitet,Zooekologi,Univ New South Wales, Sch Biol Earth & Environm Sci, Evolut & Ecol Res Ctr, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,Uppsala Univ, Sweden; Univ New South Wales, Australia(Swepub:uu)felza749 (author)
Friberg, UrbanLinköpings universitet,Biologi,Tekniska fakulteten(Swepub:liu)urbfr20 (author)
Maklakov, Alex AUppsala universitet,Zooekologi,Uppsala Univ, Sweden(Swepub:uu)almak425 (author)
van der Meer, Jan R.Univ Lausanne, Dept Fundamental Microbiol, Lausanne, Switzerland. (author)
Kawecki, Tadeusz J.Univ Lausanne, Dept Ecol & Evolut, Lausanne, Switzerland. (author)
Univ Lausanne, Dept Ecol & Evolut, Lausanne, Switzerland.;Univ Lausanne, Dept Fundamental Microbiol, Lausanne, Switzerland.Univ Lausanne, Dept Fundamental Microbiol, Lausanne, Switzerland. (creator_code:org_t)

By the author/editor: Erkosar, Berra; Yashiro, Erika; Zajitschek, Feli ...; Friberg, Urban; Maklakov, Alex A; van der Meer, Ja ...; show more...; Kawecki, Tadeusz ...; show less...

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