Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34565363›Full record

ArticleBMC biology2021

Horizontal gene transfer-mediated bacterial strain variation affects host fitness in Drosophila.

Yun Wang, Franz Baumdicker, Paul Schweiger, Sven Kuenzel, Fabian Staubach

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
1.6field-weighted citation impact, top 17% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Infection and immunity · 2025
    Review
  2. Article
  3. Interaction ofMicroorganisms · 2024
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Yun WangDepartment of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Institute of Biology I, Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Franz BaumdickerCluster of Excellence 'Controlling Microbes to Fight Infections', University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Paul SchweigerMicrobiology Department, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, La Crosse, WI, USA.
Sven KuenzelMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Ploen, Germany.
Fabian StaubachDepartment of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Institute of Biology I, Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. fabian.staubach@biologie.uni-freiburg.de.ORCID 0000-0002-8097-2349
University of Freiburg · DEMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology · DEUniversity of Wisconsin–La Crosse · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundHow microbes affect host fitness and environmental adaptation has become a fundamental research question in evolutionary biology. To better understand the role of microbial genomic variation for host fitness, we tested for associations of bacterial genomic variation and Drosophila melanogaster offspring number in a microbial Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS).

resultsWe performed a microbial GWAS, leveraging strain variation in the genus Gluconobacter, a genus of bacteria that are commonly associated with Drosophila under natural conditions. We pinpoint the thiamine biosynthesis pathway (TBP) as contributing to differences in fitness conferred to the fly host. While an effect of thiamine on fly development has been described, we show that strain variation in TBP between bacterial isolates from wild-caught D. melanogaster contributes to variation in offspring production by the host. By tracing the evolutionary history of TBP genes in Gluconobacter, we find that TBP genes were most likely lost and reacquired by horizontal gene transfer (HGT).

conclusionOur study emphasizes the importance of strain variation and highlights that HGT can add to microbiome flexibility and potentially to host adaptation.

Indexed as

Drosophila melanogasterGene Transfer, HorizontalAnimalsBacteriaGenome-Wide Association StudyThiamineThiamineDrosophilaGWASHorizontal gene transferLateral gene transferMicrobiome

Identifiers

PMID34565363
PMCPMC8474910
OpenAlexW3204820393

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.