Matthew Medeiros, Laura Seo, Aziel Macias, and Donald Price (all Life Sciences), along with Joanne Yew from the University of Hawaii, have published a paper in the International Society for Microbial Ecology Communications: New Developments in Microbial Ecology journal in November 2024.

Madeiros is a post-doctoral researcher in Price's and Yew's labs and Seo and Macias are undergraduate students in Price's laboratory. The paper, "Bacterial and fungal components of the microbiome have distinct roles in Hawaiian drosophila reproduction," examines both the bacterial and fungal members of the gut microbiome on the reproduction, survival and lipid metabolism of the Hawaiian picture winged Drosophila, D. grimshawi. The fungal component of the gut microbiome is less understood, but is integral to the microbiomes of humans and insects. Female oogenesis, fecundity, and mating drive were significantly effected by application of antifungal treatments, whereas male fecundity was affected by anti-bacterial treatments. In general, the antimicrobial treatments showed sex-specific effects on survival and reproduction in this Hawaiian Drosophila suggesting possible broad implications for interkingdom interactions to the microbial community and the impacts on host species.