Figure 1. Spiroplasma proliferation is associated with life span reduction.

(A) Life span of virgin flies-harboring Spiroplasma (Sp (+)) relative to control flies that do not harbor Spiroplasma (Sp (−)) when kept on a rich Drosophila diet. ***p<0.0001, N = 50 flies per condition. Shown is one representative experiment out of three independent experiments. (B) The climbing activity of virgin flies-harboring Spiroplasma (Sp (+)) relative to uninfected flies (Sp (−)) over time. ***p<0.0001, N = 20 flies per condition. Shown is one representative experiment out of three independent experiments. (C) qPCR quantification of the titers of Spiroplasma in virgin flies over aging. Values for each timepoint have at least three samples (five flies pooled per sample). Shown is one representative experiment out of three independent experiments. (D) Fluorescent microscopy images depicting SYTO-9 stained Spiroplasma in Drosophila hemolymph at 7 days (D1) and 21 days (D2) of fly age. (E) The number of eggs laid by virgin flies-harboring Spiroplasma (Sp (+)) relative to control flies that do not harbor Spiroplasma (Sp (−)), in total over 14 days (left panel) and in 2-day period over 14 days (right panel). In total, Spiroplasma-infected virgin flies laid significantly more eggs. *p=0.02. Shown is the mean ± SEM of data pooled from four independent experiments, N = 20 flies per experiment.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02964.003

Figure 1—figure supplement 1. The impact of Spiroplasma infection on survival and egg production by mated females on rich media.

(A) Life span of mated flies-harboring Spiroplasma (Sp (+)) relative to control flies that do not harbor Spiroplasma (Sp (−)) when kept on a rich Drosophila diet. ***p<0.0001, N = 20 flies per condition. Shown is one representative experiment out of three independent experiments. (B) The number of eggs laid by mated flies-harboring Spiroplasma (Sp (+)) relative to control flies that do not harbor Spiroplasma (Sp (−)), in total over 14 days (left panel) and in a 2-day period over 14 days (right panel). In total, there was no significant difference between the number of eggs laid by Spiroplasma-infected and Spiroplasma-uninfected mated flies. *p=0.02 and NS (p=0.16). Over the first 2 days, Spiroplasma-infected mated females produced significantly more eggs than their uninfected counterparts. ***p=0.0005. Shown is the mean ± SEM of data pooled from four independent experiments, N = 20 flies per experiment.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02964.004