I’m Ellie Jarvis (she/her), a 2nd year PhD Student in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Bath, UK. I research how female fruit flies drink alcohol to manage STIs.

Submitted by UniversityofBath t3_11q9pr4 in IAmA

Hi, I’m Ellie and I research the role of fruit flies’ yeast consumption in managing disease. I also help improve public communication about evolution, through co-participatory research and citizen science.

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are prevalent in fruit flies and provide an interesting evolutionary conundrum. Males can benefit from transferring STIs as they hinder the female’s ability to re- mate, so more offspring have his genes. However, this puts selective pressure on the female to reduce the infection’s impact on her health. This is ‘sexual selection’; sexes within a species competing against each other for individual benefit.

We know that fruit flies drink the alcohol produced by yeast on rotting fruit and we want to understand why. We think this might help protect them from the impacts of an STI. So far, I’ve found that females prefer the yeast species Metschnikowia pulcherrima, used in wine production, just as humans might prefer a particular beer or wine. Consuming this yeast helps them produce more offspring and live longer when infected.

I’m happy to answer any questions regarding my research or PhD life!

Proof: Here's my proof!

Hi everyone, thanks so much for the questions and interest in my research findings! If you want to keep up to date with this kind of research, please do follow me on Twitter where you'll get the latest updates from me!

I'll be signing off now, but thank you so much again!

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DarkAthena t1_jc1zr3c wrote

I don’t even know where to begin, so Hi! I didn’t know any of this was a thing with fruit flies. It’s fascinating. Where am I learn more about your research? Thanks!

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UniversityofBath OP t1_jc23kf5 wrote

Hi! Thanks so much for your interest in my work!

I haven't yet published any of my work, but hopefully within the next year. Then, the next best place to learn the most about my research would be my thesis in a couple years! If you were interested in when I publish my work or in similar information, you could follow me on Twitter here where I plan to discuss my research more regularly in a more digestible format.

I'm also keen on public engagement and outreach, so hope to take these experiments to various science festivals (primarily in South West England) but also looking into outreach methods that reach further afield!

Let me know if you have any other questions!

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aseedandco t1_jc22my7 wrote

I worked on an eradication response last year where we released sterile ff to mate with the local population to break the life cycle. And it worked!

I’d love to hear/read some of your research findings. Where can I find out more?

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UniversityofBath OP t1_jc25wv4 wrote

Hi! That's super cool and such a helpful way to manage insect pests without the wider detriment typically associated with insecticides! And glad it worked!

Thank you so much for your interest in my research findings! Unfortunately I haven't yet published any work from my PhD but hope to in the next year. If you're interested in keeping up with my work, please do follow me on Twitter here where I will talk about my work in a more digestible format, as well as share links to any published work or work similar to mine!

Do let me know if you have any other questions!

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Annual-Mud-987 t1_jc20b4h wrote

Hi Ellie, your research sounds really interesting. Do the fruit flies get drunk from drinking alcohol? And do you know if this happens in the wild? It feels like it would make them easy pickings for any predators.

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UniversityofBath OP t1_jc24y7q wrote

Hi, thanks so much for your interest!

So flies can get 'drunk' from drinking alcohol, in the sense that they are typically sleepier or move more slowly, but typically they stop before it has too detrimental of an effect on their behaviour, most likely for the predator issue but also to allow them to continue egg laying, finding a mate etc. There are a few studies showing that if flies are exposed to a high concentration of alcohol over a period of time, they can become more tolerant to it - similarly to humans!

Alcohol and similar ethanol products are readily available in the wild. Metschnikowia pulcherrima yeasts typically live on rotting fruit and produce chemicals like ethanol and 2-phenylethanol as a result. This is what we think attracts flies to lay their eggs there, possibly for its self-medication properties! Despite our lab fly populations being kept captive for decades, and therefore not experiencing wild yeasts like M. pulcherrima, they are still showing a preference for this species and the alcohol products above other yeast species. This suggests it is a beneficial trait to remain in the flies throughout the generations, and suggests a more significant purpose! So that's what I'm trying to understand with my research!

Any other questions let me know!

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CuriousRedPandaBear t1_jc27wui wrote

Hi thank you for sharing your research. Does drinking alcohol produce by yeast affect the health of the young fruit flies? And where did your interest in this research start?

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UniversityofBath OP t1_jc29dw5 wrote

Hi, thanks so much for your interest!

So far I've only found that young female (adult) flies prefer to drink more of the alcohol or the yeast that producing the alcohol over other yeasts. I am moving onto studying the physiological benefits of this in the next few months to better understand why they prefer it, but some preliminary results from our lab suggest that it might help them survive longer and produce more eggs.

If you were interested in the behaviour of larvae, there is also evidence that larvae prefer ethanol-rich environments! This hasn't been tested in the context of this yeast, but is a future study I'm considering to understand when these preferences develop.

I first became interested in this research whilst doing an internship at the University of Oxford looking at sex-specific differences in consumption of protein and carbohydrate in fruit flies! I'm very interested in the behavioural choices animals make, and how these influence their evolution and interact with their health. This intricate relationship between behaviour, nutrition, microbes and evolution was fascinating to me, with so many areas unexplored so I could really take it where I wanted. I'm currently working on the behavioural genetics side, where I'm looking for genes that might play a part in the nutritional choices made!

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Nurbol1008 t1_jc285e8 wrote

Would you recommend the University of Bath for masters for an international student?

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UniversityofBath OP t1_jc29xr4 wrote

Hi! It ultimately hugely depends on what you're looking for at a uni and in a course. Bath is a campus university which is really great for socialising and meeting new people. Bath is a beautiful city to live in as well, it's small so easy to get to know, but lots of great bars, food places, walks etc! I can't speak for individual courses as I didn't do my masters here, but I would strongly encourage you visit the university if you can to truly get a feel for if it's right for you!

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Ok-Feedback5604 t1_jc3h9s3 wrote

So what result you've got in your research?explain me in simple language (if you like)

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