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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

metagenome-wide association study, gut microbiota, Drosophila cancer metastasis

College

Life Sciences

Department

Plant and Wildlife Sciences

Abstract

It has been established by past scientific research that the gastrointestinal microbiome plays a defined role in many human diseases. Some of these diseases include inflammatory bowel disease, autism, hypertension, and even cancer. A common symptom seen in many of these diseases is the dysbiosis of intestinal microbiota. Studies investigating several of these ailments have shown that model organisms can be rescued from negative symptoms through the addition of health promoting bacteria to their gastrointestinal tracts. While these fascinating correlations between levels of gut microbiota and disease have been well established, the specific genes of the bacteria and the inter-organism chemical pathways that participate in this process are widely unknown. This is partly due to the difficulty in using metagenomic methods since the specific micro-populations differ vastly from one organism to another. Drosophila melanogaster provides a realistic opportunity to explore the effects of bacteria genotypes on host phenotype because of the ease of controlling the environment and microbiome or the flies in laboratory conditions.

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