Figure 5.

Impact of bacteria and fungi on mating and cuticular hydrocarbons. A. Proportion of females copulating 0, 1, 2, or 3 times during 48 hr mating trial. Copulation occurred with similar frequency amongst AB-treated flies. AF-treated females, but not males, were significantly less likely to mate (p=0.001). Mating amongst pairs with both AF-treated males and females was also significantly suppressed (p<.0001). Dyads involving AB+AF females copulated with lower frequency (p<0.0001) but AB+AF males had only a slight decrease in on mating frequency (p=0.049). Multiple copulations were more frequent in trials involving AF treated flies and in particular, AF males. Samples size is indicated above bars. The p-values were determined by a Fisher Exact Probability test.

B. Cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) total abundances. Overall levels of CHCs are higher in AF-treated females and males (n=3–6; Mann Whitney test). The CHC levels of AB and AB+AF-treated flies were unchanged by antimicrobial treatment; lines indicate mean ± S.E.M. Each replicate consists of extract from 3 flies.

C. Representative GCMS chromatogram overlaying the CHC profile from an AF-treated female (blue) with a control (black) showing a notable difference in signal abundance for all major peaks. The chromatograms are normalized to a spiked standard (std).