FIG. 2.

Mediterranean fruit flies acquire E. coli from contaminated fecal material. Flies were exposed to a 20% sucrose solution or fecal material enriched with 2 × 10⁹ CFU/ml GFP-labeled E. coli for 20 h. The numbers of labeled bacteria in males and females were determined. Flies could efficiently acquire E. coli from both the sucrose solution and fecal material in similar numbers. Bacteriological determinations were performed with batches of 10 males and 10 females per replicate (three replicates per treatment).