Influence of young age microbiome on adult sleep behavior in D. Melanogaster

There is growing evidence for the interaction between the gut microbiome and the brain. Several studies report strong correlations between the composition of the gut microbiome and various neurological diseases. Moreover, gut bacteria are shown to influence levels of neurotransmitters, e.g GABA, which are unbalanced in stress related disorders, such as anxiety and depression but also in in sleep disorders.

Drosophila Melanogaster is a powerful model organism for investigating the interaction between the microbiome and the brain. In addition to available genetic techniques, yielding germ free (axenic) flies and establishing gnotobiotic cultures is faster and easier with fruit flies compared to other model organisms. Moreover, Drosophila microbiome is much simpler in complexity, in contrast to the vertebrate microbiome.

We investigated the significance of the young age microbiome on adult sleep behaviour in Drosophila. Our hypothesis was that differences in microbiome composition might elucidate the reason for the behavioral variability in resilience/vulnerability to sleep deprivation, amongst individuals with same genetic background. However, our results suggest that there is no/ minor effect of the Drosophila microbiome on sleep behaviour.