Does the microbiota affect Drosophila melanogaster nutrient storage in a clinal pattern?

• Grant number: 25/04639-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: September 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Rodrigo Cogni
• Grantee: André Coppe Pimentel
• Supervisor: Gianluca Tettamanti
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/02166-5 - A highly integrative approach to study clinal variation in South American D. melanogaster populations, BP.PD

Abstract

The association between animals and their microbiota plays a crucial role in shaping different host biology, including development, immunity, nutrition, and behavior. For instance, gut microbiota imbalance in humans are linked to metabolic diseases like obesity and diabetes. Drosophila melanogaster provides an ideal model to study microbiota-host interactions, as they have manageable microbiomes that can be experimentally manipulated. Environment challenges individuals within populations, which have to deal with local biotic and abiotic factors. These factors can be geographically structured in gradients (clines), which select individuals with local adaptations that can also follow a clinal pattern. Some of these adaptations may be linked to host-microbiota interactions. In Drosophila, evidence of clinal variation in microbiota has been observed, as well as studies showing that microbiota influence nutrient allocation, fat storage, and starvation resistance. Given the latitudinal clines observed in D. melanogaster, understanding how microbiota modulate these reserves across geographic gradients could provide insights into how animals cope with environmental challenges. This project investigates how bacterial strains isolated from flies at different latitudes affect host nutrient storage, specifically assessing whether naturally occurring microbiota help flies adapt to environmental challenges in a clinal pattern. Using microscopy and histochemical techniques, the study will examine the fat body of flies associated with different bacterial strains. This work is expected to provide new insights into the role of microbiota in local adaptation, especially in how microbial communities influence nutrient storage in D. melanogaster along latitudinal gradients.