No influence of antibiotic on locomotion inDrosophila nigrosparsaafter recovery, but influence on microbiome, possibly mediating wing-morphology change

Abstract

ABSTRACTAntibiotics, such as tetracycline, has been frequently used to cure endosymbiontWolbachiain arthropods. After the symbionts had been removed, the hosts must be waited for some generations to recover from side effects of the antibiotics. Knowledge of potential long-term effects of the antibiotic is important. Here, we treatedDrosophila nigrosparsawith and without antibiotic tetracycline for three generations and two generations recovering time to investigate effects of the tetracycline on the flies concerning locomotion of larvae and adults, wing morphology, and gut microbiome of adults. In addition, gut-microbiome restoration was tested as a solution to reducing potential side effects of tetracycline on the flies’ microbiome more quickly. We found significant differences in larval and adult locomotion within groups but no significant differences among the control, antibiotic-treated, and gut-restoration groups. We found a slight differentiation of wing morphology into the three groups and significant differences in bacterial abundance among groups. The influence of tetracycline on the gut microbiome may have contributed to wing-morphology differences among groups, which would be an indirect effect of the antibiotic. Together with the absence of an effect on locomotion, this suggests that checking for both direct and indirect effects of tetracycline after a particular recovery time before using tetracycline curing is important. The microbiome of the gut-restoration group was not like that of the control group. Therefore, gut restoration cannot be used to remove effects of tetracycline inD. nigrosparsa, at least in the setup used here.