Transient adult microbiota, gut homeostasis and longevity: Novel insights from the Drosophila model

In the last decade, Drosophila has emerged as a useful model to study host-microbiota interactions, creating an active research field with prolific publications. In the last 2 years, several studies contributed to a better understanding of the dynamic nature of microbiota composition and its impact on gut immunity and intestinal tissue homeostasis. These studies depicted the mechanisms by which microbiota regulates gut homeostasis to modulate host fitness and lifespan. Moreover, the latest findings demonstrating that the gut is a physiologically and histologically compartmentalized organ brought fresh perspectives to study the region-specific nature of the interactions between the commensal microbes and the intestinal tissue, and consequences of these interactions on overall host biology. (C) 2014 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.