Counting Colony Forming Units (CFUs): Quantifying Bacteria from Fly Bodies
Published: April 30, 2023
Abstract
Source: Koyle, M. L., et al. Rearing the Fruit Fly & Drosophila melanogaster Under Axenic and Gnotobiotic Conditions. J. Vis. Exp. (2016).
Drosophila microbiota impacts the animal's development, immunity and physiology. This video describes a method to quantify bacteria from flies by determining the colony forming units from whole body preparations. The featured protocol demonstrates the technique with flies, reared under gnotobiotic conditions using four bacterial species.
Protocol
This protocol is an excerpt from Koyle et al., Rearing the Fruit Fly Drosophila melanogaster Under Axenic and Gnotobiotic Conditions, J. Vis. Exp. (2016). 1. Dechorionate Eggs and Transfer to Sterile Diet Prepare the biosafety cabinet by spraying the inside (including sides) with 70% ethanol. Wipe the bottom with a lab tissue, and sterilize the hood with UV light for ~15 min. Sterilize all non-biological supplies (specimen cups, paintbrush, forceps, waste…
Representative Results
Supplemental Code File: Sample Calculations. Please click here to view this file (Right click to download).
Materials
| Brewer's Yeast | MP Biomedicals, LLC. | 903312 | |
| Glucose | Sigma Aldrich | 158968-3KG | |
| Agar | Fisher–Lab Scientific | fly802010 | |
| Welch's 100% Grape Juice Concentrate | Walmart or other grocery store | 9116196 | |
| Cage: 32 oz. Translucent Round Deli Container | Webstaurant Store | 999L5032Y | |
| Translucent Round Deli Container Lid | Webstaurant Store | 999YNL500 | |
| Stock Bottles | Genesee Scientific | 32-130 | |
| Droso-Plugs | Genesee Scientific | 49-101 | |
| Nylon Mesh | Genesee Scientific | 57-102 | |
| Plastic Bushing | Home Depot | 100404002 | |
| Plastic Bushing Cap | Home Depot | 100153897 | |
| Specimen Cup | MedSupply Partners | K01-207067 | |
| Repeater M4 | Eppendorf | 4982000322 | |
| 50 ml Centrifuge Tubes | TrueLine Centrifuge Tubes | TR2003 | |
| Food Boxes | USA Scientific | 2316-5001 | |
| Lysing Matrix D Bulk | MP Biomedicals, LLC. | 116540434 | |
| Filter Pipette Tips, 300 µl | USA Scientific | 1120-9810 | |
| Petri Dishes | Laboratory Product Sales | M089303 | |
| Ethanol | Decon Laboratories, INC. | 2701 | |
| Paintbrush | Walmart | 5133 | |
| Forceps | Fisher | 08-882 | |
| Household Bleach (6-8% Hypochlorite) | Walmart | 550646751 | |
| Universal Peptone | Genesee Scientific | 20-260 | |
| Yeast Extract | Fisher Scientific | BP1422-500 | |
| Dipotassium Phosphate | Sigma Aldrich | P3786-1KG | |
| Ammonium Citrate | Sigma Aldrich | 25102-500g | |
| Sodium Acetate | VWR | 97061-994 | |
| Magnesium Sulfate | Fisher Scientific | M63-500 | |
| Manganese Sulfate | Sigma Aldrich | 10034-96-5 | |
| MRS Powder | Sigma Aldrich | 69966-500G | |
| 96 Well Plate Reader | BioTek (Epoch) | NA | |
| 1.7 ml Centrifuge Tubes | USA Scientific | 1615-5500 | |
| Filter Pipette Tips, 1,000 µl | USA Scientific | 1122-1830 | |
| 96 Well Plates | Greiner Bio-One | 655101 | |
| Ceramic Beads | MP Biomedicals, LLC. | 6540-434 | |
| Tissue Homogenizer | MP Biomedicals, LLC. | 116004500 | |
| Class 1 BioSafety Cabinet | Thermo Scientific | Model 1395 |
Cite This Article
Counting Colony Forming Units (CFUs): Quantifying Bacteria from Fly Bodies. J. Vis. Exp. (Pending Publication), e20120, doi: (2023).