TY - JOUR T1 - Metabolite exchange within the microbiome produces compounds that influence <em>Drosophila</em> behavior JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/066035 SP - 066035 AU - Caleb N. Fischer AU - Eric Trautman AU - Jason M. Crawford AU - Eric V. Stabb AU - Nichole A. Broderick AU - Jo Handelsman Y1 - 2016/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/07/27/066035.abstract N2 - Animals host multi-species microbial communities (microbiomes) whose properties may result from inter-species interactions; however current understanding of host-microbiome interactions is derived mostly from studies in which is it is difficult to elucidate microbe-microbe interactions. In exploring how Drosophila melanogaster acquires its microbiome, we found that a microbial community influences Drosophila olfactory and egg-laying behaviors differently than individual members. Drosophila prefers a Saccharomyces-Acetobacter co-culture to the same microorganisms grown individually and then mixed, a response mainly due to the conserved olfactory receptor, Or42b. Acetobacter metabolism of Saccharomyces-derived ethanol was necessary, and acetate and its metabolic derivatives were sufficient, for co-culture preference. Preference correlated with three emergent co-culture properties: ethanol catabolism, a distinct volatile emission profile, and yeast population decline. We describe a molecular mechanism by which a microbial community affects animal behavior. Our results support a model whereby emergent metabolites signal Drosophila to acquire its preferred multispecies microbiome. ER -