Yeast associations of spotted wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii, Diptera: Drosophilidae) in cherries and raspberries

A rich history of investigation documents various Drosophila-yeast mutualisms, suggesting that Drosophila suzukii might similarly have an association with a specific yeast species or community. To discover candidate yeast species, yeasts were isolated from larval frass, adult midguts, and fruit hosts of D. suzukii. Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (TRFLP) technology and decimal dilution plating were used to identify and determine relative abundance of yeast species present in fruit juice samples that were either infested or not infested with D. suzukii. Yeasts were less abundant in uninfested relative to infested samples. A total of 126 independent yeast isolates were cultivated from frass, midguts, and fruit hosts of D. suzukii, representing 28 species of yeasts, with Hanseniaspora uvarum predominating. This suggests a potential association between D. suzukii and H. uvarum that could be utilized for pest management of the highly pestiferous D. suzukii.