Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 13 pp 4611—4640

The role of commensal microbes in the lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster

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Figure 4. Homogenate of Conv fly decreases the lifespan of Ax fly. (A) Survival curves of Conv or Ax flies fed fly body homogenates from 10-day-old (young) or 50-day-old (old) flies. Solid lines indicate Conv flies, dotted lines indicate Ax flies or Ax flies fed Ax fly homogenate, and dashed lines indicate Ax flies fed Conv fly homogenate. HomogeCo,Y indicates homogenate from young Conv flies, HomogeCo,O indicates homogenate from old Conv flies, HomogeAx,Y indicates homogenate from young Ax flies, and HomogeAx,O indicates homogenate from old Ax flies. (B) Mean lifespan of Ax flies fed homogenate of young or old Conv or Ax flies. Black dot, Conv flies; dashed line, Ax flies; gray dots, Ax + HomogenateConv; white dots, Ax + HomogenateAx. (C) CFUs of Ax flies fed young fly homogenate or serially diluted old fly homogenate. CFUs were determined 5 weeks after the initial feeding. (D) Mean lifespan of Ax flies after feeding homogenates of young or serially diluted old Conv flies. (E) CFUs of Ax flies fed young fly homogenate concentrated at ×0.5, ×1, and ×2. CFUs were measured 1 week after the initial feeding. (F) Mean lifespan of Ax flies after feeding homogenates of young Conv flies. Homogenate from young Conv flies was diluted or concentrated up to two-fold. Different letters indicate significant differences between groups. Error bars represent the SEM.