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Fig. 4 | BMC Biology

Fig. 4

From: Gut microbe Lactiplantibacillus plantarum undergoes different evolutionary trajectories between insects and mammals

Fig. 4

Drosophila melanogaster benefits L. plantarum growth on a short timescale. A Design of the Lp experimental evolution (EE) with and without Drosophila (Host and Diet setups, respectively). For the first EE cycle, the ancestor strain (LpNIZO2877) was inoculated into tubes containing a poor-nutrient Drosophila diet (Diet setup) or a poor-nutrient diet containing 40 germ-free Drosophila embryos (Host setup). No further inoculation of the ancestor was performed until the end of the experimental evolution. As soon as at least 15 pupae emerged from all host tubes (i.e., after ~11 days, corresponding to ~88 bacterial generations), 150 μl of food was collected from both setups using a sterile loop, homogenized, and plated out to isolate bacteria (frozen “fossil” records of EE cycle 1). This bacterial population was used as the inoculum for the following generation/transfer. Subsequent EE cycles followed the same experimental procedure as cycle 1 and started from the fossil records belonging to the previous generation/transfer. The EE lasted 20 cycles (220 days, corresponding to ~1760 bacterial generations). BLp growth over the course of the Host and Diet EE protocols across 20 total EE cycles (i.e., 1760 bacterial generations). Each point represents the mean of the five experimental replicates, with bars indicating the standard error of the mean (SEM). ANCOVA ***p < 0.0001). C Microbial load obtained by mono-associating each of the five replicates of both setups (Host- and Diet-evolved bacteria) isolated from cycle 17, both with and without the host. Each bar represents the standard error of the mean (SEM) obtained by analyzing five replicate populations for each condition. Ordinary one-way ANOVA (*p ≤ 0.05, **p <0.01, and ***p < 0.001)

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