Background: Polymicrobial infections are complex infections associated with worse outcomes compared to monomicrobial infections. We need simple, fast, and cost-effective animal models to assess their still poorly known pathogenesis.
Methods: We developed a Drosophila melanogaster polymicrobial infection model for opportunistic pathogens and assessed its capacity to discriminate the effects of bacterial mixtures taken from cases of human polymicrobial infections by Aeromonas strains. A systemic infection was obtained by needle pricking the dorsal thorax of the flies, and the fly survival was monitored over time. Different lineages of the flies were infected by a single strain or paired strains (strain ratio 1:1).
Results: Individual strains killed more than 80% of the flies in 20 h. The course of infection could be altered with a microbial mix. The model could distinguish between the diverse effects (synergistic, antagonistic, and no difference) that resulted in a milder, more severe, or similar infection, depending on the paired strain considered. We then investigated the determinants of the effects. The effects were maintained in deficient fly lineages for the main signaling pathways (Toll deficient and IMD deficient), which suggests an active microbe/microbe/host interaction.
Conclusion: These results indicate that the D. melanogaster systemic infection model is consistent with the study of polymicrobial infection.
Keywords: Aeromonas; Drosophila melanogaster; infection model; microbial interference; opportunistic pathogen; polymicrobial infection.