The Impact of Host Diet on Wolbachia Titer in Drosophila

PLoS Pathogens

Pamela M. White¹  Luis Teixeira¹  Laura R. Serbus²  Amanda Rabe²  William Sullivan³  Roger Albertson⁴  Jessica Pintado Silva⁴ 

[1] Biomolecular Sciences Institute, Florida International University Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Miami, Florida, United States of America;Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Miami, Florida, United States of America;Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal;Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America

关键词: Wolbachia;    Oocytes;    Drosophila melanogaster;    Food;    Diet;    Yeast;    Nutrients;    Oogenesis;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.ppat.1004777

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

While a number of studies have identified host factors that influence endosymbiont titer, little is known concerning environmental influences on titer. Here we examined nutrient impact on maternally transmitted Wolbachia endosymbionts in Drosophila. We demonstrate that Drosophila reared on sucrose- and yeast-enriched diets exhibit increased and reduced Wolbachia titers in oogenesis, respectively. The yeast-induced Wolbachia depletion is mediated in large part by the somatic TOR and insulin signaling pathways. Disrupting TORC1 with the small molecule rapamycin dramatically increases oocyte Wolbachia titer, whereas hyper-activating somatic TORC1 suppresses oocyte titer. Furthermore, genetic ablation of insulin-producing cells located in the Drosophila brain abolished the yeast impact on oocyte titer. Exposure to yeast-enriched diets altered Wolbachia nucleoid morphology in oogenesis. Furthermore, dietary yeast increased somatic Wolbachia titer overall, though not in the central nervous system. These findings highlight the interactions between Wolbachia and germline cells as strongly nutrient-sensitive, and implicate conserved host signaling pathways by which nutrients influence Wolbachia titer.

【 授权许可】

CC BY