2024/12/05 by Karina Gutiérrez-García, Kevin Aumiller, Ren Dodge +9 · 1 voice · 3 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Immunology and Microbiology · #Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences #Invertebrate Immune Response Mechanisms #Vector-Borne Animal Diseases
paper · doi:10.1126/science.adp7748
openalex publication_date 2024/12/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Animals selectively acquire specific symbiotic gut bacteria from their environments that aid host fitness. To colonize, a symbiont must locate its niche and sustain growth within the gut. Adhesins are bacterial cell surface proteins that facilitate attachment to host tissues and are often virulence factors for opportunistic pathogens. However, the attachments are often transient and nonspecific, and additional mechanisms are required to sustain infection. In this work, we use live imaging of individual symbiotic bacterial cells colonizing the gut of living Drosophila melanogaster to show that Lactiplantibacillus plantarum specifically recognizes the fruit fly foregut as a distinct physical niche. L. plantarum establishes stably within its niche through host-specific adhesins encoded by genes carried on a colonization island. The adhesin binding domains are conserved throughout the Lactobacillales, and the island also encodes a secretion system widely conserved among commensal and pathogenic bacteria.