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Yeast, not fruit volatiles mediate Drosophila melanogaster attraction, oviposition and development

Becher, Paul LU ; Flick, Gerhard ; Rozpedowska, Elzbieta LU ; Schmidt, Alexandra ; Hagman, Arne LU ; Lebreton, Sebastien ; Larsson, Mattias C. LU ; Hansson, Bill S. ; Piskur, Jure LU and Witzgall, Peter , et al. (2012) In Functional Ecology 26(4). p.822-828
Abstract
1.In nature, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is attracted to fermenting fruit. Micro-organisms like Saccharomyces yeasts growing on fruit occupy a commonly overlooked trophic level between fruit and insects. Although the dietary quality of yeast is well established for D.melanogaster, the individual contribution of fruit and yeast on host finding and reproductive success has not been established. 2.Here, we show that baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae on its own is sufficient for fruit fly attraction, oviposition and larval development. In contrast, attraction and oviposition were significantly lower if non-fermented grape juice or growth media were used, and yeast-free grapes did not support larval development either. 3.Despite... (More)
1.In nature, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is attracted to fermenting fruit. Micro-organisms like Saccharomyces yeasts growing on fruit occupy a commonly overlooked trophic level between fruit and insects. Although the dietary quality of yeast is well established for D.melanogaster, the individual contribution of fruit and yeast on host finding and reproductive success has not been established. 2.Here, we show that baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae on its own is sufficient for fruit fly attraction, oviposition and larval development. In contrast, attraction and oviposition were significantly lower if non-fermented grape juice or growth media were used, and yeast-free grapes did not support larval development either. 3.Despite a strong preference for fermented substrates, moderate attraction to and oviposition on unfermented fruit might be adaptive in view of the fly's capacity to vector yeast. 4.Signals emitted by fruit were only of secondary importance because fermenting yeast without fruit induced the same fly behaviour as yeast fermenting on fruit. We identified a synthetic mimic of yeast odour, comprising ethanol, acetic acid, acetoin, 2-phenyl ethanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol, which was as attractive for the fly as fermenting grape juice or fermenting yeast minimal medium. 5.Yeast odours represent the critical signal to establish the flyfruityeast relationship. The traditional plantherbivore niche concept needs to be updated, to accommodate for the role of micro-organisms in insectplant interactions. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Behaviour, coadaptation, egg-laying, fermentation, host finding, olfaction, preference-performance hypothesis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, trophic level, vector
in
Functional Ecology
volume
26
issue
4
pages
822 - 828
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000306404100008
  • scopus:84863996684
ISSN
1365-2435
DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2435.2012.02006.x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
fda79f1e-66dd-4a0d-97c9-22915ae1e6fb (old id 2991550)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:02:13
date last changed
2022-04-28 03:42:04
@article{fda79f1e-66dd-4a0d-97c9-22915ae1e6fb,
  abstract     = {{1.In nature, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is attracted to fermenting fruit. Micro-organisms like Saccharomyces yeasts growing on fruit occupy a commonly overlooked trophic level between fruit and insects. Although the dietary quality of yeast is well established for D.melanogaster, the individual contribution of fruit and yeast on host finding and reproductive success has not been established. 2.Here, we show that baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae on its own is sufficient for fruit fly attraction, oviposition and larval development. In contrast, attraction and oviposition were significantly lower if non-fermented grape juice or growth media were used, and yeast-free grapes did not support larval development either. 3.Despite a strong preference for fermented substrates, moderate attraction to and oviposition on unfermented fruit might be adaptive in view of the fly's capacity to vector yeast. 4.Signals emitted by fruit were only of secondary importance because fermenting yeast without fruit induced the same fly behaviour as yeast fermenting on fruit. We identified a synthetic mimic of yeast odour, comprising ethanol, acetic acid, acetoin, 2-phenyl ethanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol, which was as attractive for the fly as fermenting grape juice or fermenting yeast minimal medium. 5.Yeast odours represent the critical signal to establish the flyfruityeast relationship. The traditional plantherbivore niche concept needs to be updated, to accommodate for the role of micro-organisms in insectplant interactions.}},
  author       = {{Becher, Paul and Flick, Gerhard and Rozpedowska, Elzbieta and Schmidt, Alexandra and Hagman, Arne and Lebreton, Sebastien and Larsson, Mattias C. and Hansson, Bill S. and Piskur, Jure and Witzgall, Peter and Bengtsson, Marie}},
  issn         = {{1365-2435}},
  keywords     = {{Behaviour; coadaptation; egg-laying; fermentation; host finding; olfaction; preference-performance hypothesis; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; trophic level; vector}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{822--828}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Functional Ecology}},
  title        = {{Yeast, not fruit volatiles mediate Drosophila melanogaster attraction, oviposition and development}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2012.02006.x}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/j.1365-2435.2012.02006.x}},
  volume       = {{26}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}