One of the key factors that determine the interaction between hosts and their parasites is the frequency of their interactions, which depends on the locomotory behavior of both parts. To address host behavior we used natural infections involving insect pathogenic nematodes and Drosophila melanogaster larvae as hosts. Using a modified version of a recently described method (FIMTrack) to assess several parameters in larger sets of animals, we initially detected specific differences in larval food searching when comparing Drosophila strains. These differences were further influenced by the presence of nematodes. Given a choice, Drosophila larvae clearly avoided nematodes irrespective of their genetic background. Our newly developed methods will be useful to test candidate genes and pathways involved in host/pathogen interactions in general and to assess specific parameters of their interaction.

决定宿主与寄生虫之间相互作用的关键因素之一是它们相互作用的频率，这取决于两个部分的运动行为。为了解决宿主的行为，我们使用了涉及昆虫病原线虫和果蝇果蝇幼虫的自然感染作为宿主。使用最近描述的方法（FIMTrack）的改进版本来评估大型动物中的几个参数，当比较果蝇菌株时，我们最初检测到幼虫食物搜索中的特定差异。这些差异还受到线虫的影响。果蝇可以选择幼虫清楚地避免了线虫，无论其遗传背景如何。我们新开发的方法将可用于测试总体上与宿主/病原体相互作用涉及的候选基因和途径，并评估其相互作用的特定参数。