scholarly journals Understanding the evolution of interspecies interactions in microbial communities

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1798) ◽  
pp. 20190256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florien A. Gorter ◽  
Michael Manhart ◽  
Martin Ackermann
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Interaction Strength ◽  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Systematic Effect ◽  
Interspecies Interactions ◽  
Fitness Effects ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Beneficial Traits ◽  
Selection Of

Microbial communities are complex multi-species assemblages that are characterized by a multitude of interspecies interactions, which can range from mutualism to competition. The overall sign and strength of interspecies interactions have important consequences for emergent community-level properties such as productivity and stability. It is not well understood how interspecies interactions change over evolutionary timescales. Here, we review the empirical evidence that evolution is an important driver of microbial community properties and dynamics on timescales that have traditionally been regarded as purely ecological. Next, we briefly discuss different modelling approaches to study evolution of communities, emphasizing the similarities and differences between evolutionary and ecological perspectives. We then propose a simple conceptual model for the evolution of interspecies interactions in communities. Specifically, we propose that to understand the evolution of interspecies interactions, it is important to distinguish between direct and indirect fitness effects of a mutation. We predict that in well-mixed environments, traits will be selected exclusively for their direct fitness effects, while in spatially structured environments, traits may also be selected for their indirect fitness effects. Selection of indirectly beneficial traits should result in an increase in interaction strength over time, while selection of directly beneficial traits should not have such a systematic effect. We tested our intuitions using a simple quantitative model and found support for our hypotheses. The next step will be to test these hypotheses experimentally and provide input for a more refined version of the model in turn, thus closing the scientific cycle of models and experiments. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Conceptual challenges in microbial community ecology’.

scholarly journals Understanding the evolution of interspecies interactions in microbial communities

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florien A. Gorter ◽  
Michael Manhart ◽  
Martin Ackermann
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Interaction Strength ◽  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Systematic Effect ◽  
Interspecies Interactions ◽  
Fitness Effects ◽  
Indirect Fitness ◽  
Approaches To Study ◽  
Beneficial Traits ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractMicrobial communities are complex multi-species assemblages that are characterized by a multitude of interspecies interactions, which can range from mutualism to competition. The overall sign and strength of interspecies interactions have important consequences for emergent community-level properties such as productivity and stability. It is not well understood whether and how interspecies interactions change over evolutionary timescales. Here, we review the empirical evidence that evolution is an important driver of microbial community properties and dynamics on timescales that have traditionally been regarded as purely ecological. Next, we briefly discuss different modelling approaches to study evolution of communities, emphasizing the similarities and differences between evolutionary and ecological perspectives. We then propose a simple conceptual model for the evolution of communities. Specifically, we propose that the evolution of interspecies interactions depends crucially on the spatial structure of the environment. We predict that in well-mixed environments, traits will be selected exclusively for their direct fitness effects, while in spatially structured environments, traits may also be selected for their indirect fitness effects. Selection of indirectly beneficial traits should result in an increase in interaction strength over time, while selection of directly beneficial traits should not have such a systematic effect. We tested our intuitions using a simple quantitative model and found support for our hypotheses. The next step will be to test these hypotheses experimentally and provide input for a more refined version of the model in turn, thus closing the scientific cycle of models and experiments.

scholarly journals Cohesiveness in microbial community coalescence

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nanxi Lu ◽  
Alicia Sanchez-Gorostiaga ◽  
Mikhail Tikhonov ◽  
Alvaro Sanchez
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Invasion Success ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Interacting Species ◽  
Resource Interactions ◽  
Different Origins ◽  
Microbial Community Assembly ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractMicrobial invasions exhibit many unique properties; notably, entire microbial communities often invade one another, a phenomenon known as community coalescence. In spite of the potential importance of this process for the dynamics and stability of microbiome assembly, our understanding of it is still very limited. Recent theoretical and empirical work has proposed that large microbial communities may exhibit an emergent cohesiveness, as a result of collective consumer-resource interactions and metabolic feedbacks between microbial growth and the environment. A fundamental prediction of this proposal is the presence of ecological co-selection during community coalescence, where the invasion success of a given taxon is determined by its community members. To establish the generality of this prediction in experimental microbiomes, we have performed over one hundred invasion and coalescence experiments with environmental communities of different origins that had spontaneously and stably assembled in two different synthetic aerobic environments. We show that the dominant species of the coalesced communities can both recruit their community members (top-down co-selection) and be recruited by them (bottom-up co-selection) into the coalesced communities. Our results provide direct evidence that collective invasions generically produce ecological co-selection of interacting species, emphasizing the importance of community-level interactions during microbial community assembly.

scholarly journals Plasmids persist in a microbial community by providing fitness benefit to multiple phylotypes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liguan Li ◽  
Arnaud Dechesne ◽  
Jonas Stenløkke Madsen ◽  
Joseph Nesme ◽  
Søren J. Sørensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antibiotic Resistance ◽  
Microbial Community ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Sewage Treatment ◽  
Sewage Treatment Plant ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Antibiotic Resistance Genes ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Broad Host Range ◽  
Fitness Effects

AbstractThe current epidemic of antibiotic resistance has been facilitated by the wide and rapid horizontal dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in microbial communities. Indeed, ARGs are often located on plasmids, which can efficiently shuttle genes across diverse taxa. While the existence conditions of plasmids have been extensively studied in a few model bacterial populations, their fate in complex bacterial communities is poorly understood. Here, we coupled plasmid transfer assays with serial growth experiments to investigate the persistence of the broad-host-range IncP-1 plasmid pKJK5 in microbial communities derived from a sewage treatment plant. The cultivation conditions combined different nutrient and oxygen levels, and were non-selective and non-conducive for liquid-phase conjugal transfer. Following initial transfer, the plasmid persisted in almost all conditions during a 10-day serial growth experiment (equivalent to 60 generations), with a transient transconjugant incidence up to 30%. By combining cell enumeration and sorting with amplicon sequencing, we mapped plasmid fitness effects across taxa of the microbial community. Unexpected plasmid fitness benefits were observed in multiple phylotypes of Aeromonas, Pseudomonas and Enterobacteriaceae, which resulted in community-level plasmid persistence. We demonstrate, for the first time, that plasmid fitness effects across community members can be estimated in a high-throughput way without prior isolation. By gaining a fitness benefit when carrying plasmids, members within complex microbial communities might have a hitherto unrecognized potential to maintain plasmids for long-term community-wide access.

scholarly journals Reducing fluctuations in species composition facilitates artificial selection of microbial community function

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Xie ◽  
Wenying Shou
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Cell Sorting ◽  
Maturation Time ◽  
Experimental Procedure ◽  
Community Function ◽  
Stochastic Fluctuations ◽  
Total Product ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractMulti-species microbial communities often display functions - biochemical activities unattainable by member species alone, such as fighting pathogens. To improve community function, we can artificially select communities by growing “Newborn” communities over “maturation time” into “Adult” communities, and selecting highest-functioning Adults to “reproduce” by diluting each into multiple Newborns of the next cycle. Community selection has been attempted a few times on complex communities, often generating mixed results that are difficult to interpret. Here, we ask how costly community function may be improved via mutations and community selection. We simulate selection of two-species communities where Helpers digest Waste and generate Byproduct essential to Manufacturers; Manufacturers divert a fraction of their growth to make Product. Community function, the total Product in an “Adult”, is sub-optimal even when both species have been pre-optimized as monocultures. If we dilute an Adult into Newborns by pipetting (a common experimental procedure), stochastic fluctuations in Newborn composition prevents community function from improving. Reducing fluctuations via cell sorting allows selection to work. Our conclusions hold regardless of whether H and M are commensal or mutualistic, or variations in model assumptions.

A peek in the micro-sized world: a review of design principles, engineering tools, and applications of engineered microbial community

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 399-409
Author(s):  
Baizhen Gao ◽  
Rushant Sabnis ◽  
Tommaso Costantini ◽  
Robert Jinkerson ◽  
Qing Sun
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Environmental Remediation ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Design Principles ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
New Gene ◽  
Global Biogeochemical Cycles ◽  
Synthetic Microbial Communities

Microbial communities drive diverse processes that impact nearly everything on this planet, from global biogeochemical cycles to human health. Harnessing the power of these microorganisms could provide solutions to many of the challenges that face society. However, naturally occurring microbial communities are not optimized for anthropogenic use. An emerging area of research is focusing on engineering synthetic microbial communities to carry out predefined functions. Microbial community engineers are applying design principles like top-down and bottom-up approaches to create synthetic microbial communities having a myriad of real-life applications in health care, disease prevention, and environmental remediation. Multiple genetic engineering tools and delivery approaches can be used to ‘knock-in' new gene functions into microbial communities. A systematic study of the microbial interactions, community assembling principles, and engineering tools are necessary for us to understand the microbial community and to better utilize them. Continued analysis and effort are required to further the current and potential applications of synthetic microbial communities.

Cooperative selection of action in tapping: A quantitative model

1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Vaughan ◽  
David A. Rosenbaum ◽  
Cathleen Moore
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Selection Of

Characteristics and selection of efficient lignocellulose degradation microbial community

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 621-627
Author(s):  
De-Wu WANG ◽  
Tuo YAO ◽  
Qiao-Li YANG ◽  
Guo-Tao QI ◽  
Xin-Yi LIU ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Lignocellulose Degradation ◽  
Selection Of

scholarly journals CaptureSeq: Hybridization-Based Enrichment of cpn60 Gene Fragments Reveals the Community Structures of Synthetic and Natural Microbial Ecosystems

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 816
Author(s):  
Matthew G. Links ◽  
Tim J. Dumonceaux ◽  
E. Luke McCarthy ◽  
Sean M. Hemmingsen ◽  
Edward Topp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Pcr Amplification ◽  
Shotgun Sequencing ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Gene Markers ◽  
Microbial Profile ◽  
Microbial Ecosystems ◽  
Pcr Targeting

Background. The molecular profiling of complex microbial communities has become the basis for examining the relationship between the microbiome composition, structure and metabolic functions of those communities. Microbial community structure can be partially assessed with “universal” PCR targeting taxonomic or functional gene markers. Increasingly, shotgun metagenomic DNA sequencing is providing more quantitative insight into microbiomes. However, both amplicon-based and shotgun sequencing approaches have shortcomings that limit the ability to study microbiome dynamics. Methods. We present a novel, amplicon-free, hybridization-based method (CaptureSeq) for profiling complex microbial communities using probes based on the chaperonin-60 gene. Molecular profiles of a commercially available synthetic microbial community standard were compared using CaptureSeq, whole metagenome sequencing, and 16S universal target amplification. Profiles were also generated for natural ecosystems including antibiotic-amended soils, manure storage tanks, and an agricultural reservoir. Results. The CaptureSeq method generated a microbial profile that encompassed all of the bacteria and eukaryotes in the panel with greater reproducibility and more accurate representation of high G/C content microorganisms compared to 16S amplification. In the natural ecosystems, CaptureSeq provided a much greater depth of coverage and sensitivity of detection compared to shotgun sequencing without prior selection. The resulting community profiles provided quantitatively reliable information about all three domains of life (Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya) in the different ecosystems. The applications of CaptureSeq will facilitate accurate studies of host-microbiome interactions for environmental, crop, animal and human health. Conclusions: cpn60-based hybridization enriched for taxonomically informative DNA sequences from complex mixtures. In synthetic and natural microbial ecosystems, CaptureSeq provided sequences from prokaryotes and eukaryotes simultaneously, with quantitatively reliable read abundances. CaptureSeq provides an alternative to PCR amplification of taxonomic markers with deep community coverage while minimizing amplification biases.

scholarly journals Pollutant-Removing Biofilter Strains Associated with High Ammonia and Hydrogen Sulfide Removal Rate in a Livestock Wastewater Treatment Facility

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7358
Author(s):  
Dong-Hyun Kim ◽  
Hyun-Sik Yun ◽  
Young-Saeng Kim ◽  
Jong-Guk Kim
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Hydrogen Sulfide ◽  
Microbial Community ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Illumina Miseq ◽  
Illumina Miseq Sequencing ◽  
Miseq Sequencing ◽  
Treatment Facility ◽  
Livestock Wastewater ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Facility

This study analyzed the microbial community metagenomically to determine the cause of the functionality of a livestock wastewater treatment facility that can effectively remove pollutants, such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. Illumina MiSeq sequencing was used in analyzing the composition and structure of the microbial community, and the 16S rRNA gene was used. Through Illumina MiSeq sequencing, information such as diversity indicators as well as the composition and structure of microbial communities present in the livestock wastewater treatment facility were obtained, and differences between microbial communities present in the investigated samples were compared. The number of reads, operational taxonomic units, and species richness were lower in influent sample (NLF), where the wastewater enters, than in effluent sample (NL), in which treated wastewater is found. This difference was greater in June 2019 than in January 2020, and the removal rates of ammonia (86.93%) and hydrogen sulfide (99.72%) were also higher in June 2019. In both areas, the community composition was similar in January 2020, whereas the influent sample (NLF) and effluent sample (NL) areas in June 2019 were dominated by Proteobacteria (76.23%) and Firmicutes (67.13%), respectively. Oleiphilaceae (40.89%) and Thioalkalibacteraceae (12.91%), which are related to ammonia and hydrogen sulfide removal, respectively, were identified in influent sample (NLF) in June 2019. They were more abundant in June 2019 than in January 2020. Therefore, the functionality of the livestock wastewater treatment facility was affected by characteristics, including the composition of the microbial community. Compared to Illumina MiSeq sequencing, fewer species were isolated and identified in both areas using culture-based methods, suggesting Illumina MiSeq sequencing as a powerful tool to determine the relevance of microbial communities for pollutant removal.

scholarly journals Comparison of Drivers of Soil Microbial Communities Developed in Karst Ecosystems with Shallow and Deep Soil Depths

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Huiling Guan ◽  
Jiangwen Fan ◽  
Haiyan Zhang ◽  
Warwick Harris
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Phospholipid Fatty Acid ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Deep Soil ◽  
Soil System ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
Total Soil ◽  
Karst Ecosystems

Soil erosion is prevalent in karst areas, but few studies have compared the differences in the drivers for soil microbial communities among karst ecosystems with different soil depths, and most studies have focused on the local scale. To fill this research gap, we investigated the upper 20 cm soil layers of 10 shallow–soil depth (shallow–SDC, total soil depth less than 100 cm) and 11 deep–soil depth communities (deep–SDC, total soil depth more than 100 cm), covering a broad range of vegetation types, soils, and climates. The microbial community characteristics of both the shallow–SDC and deep–SDC soils were tested by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFAs) analysis, and the key drivers of the microbial communities were illustrated by forward selection and variance partitioning analysis. Our findings demonstrated that more abundant soil nutrients supported higher fungal PLFA in shallow–SDC than in deep–SDC (p < 0.05). Furthermore, stronger correlation between the microbial community and the plant–soil system was found in shallow–SDC: the pure plant effect explained the 43.2% of variance in microbial biomass and 57.8% of the variance in the ratio of Gram–positive bacteria to Gram–negative bacteria (G+/G−), and the ratio of fungi to total bacteria (F/B); the pure soil effect accounted for 68.6% variance in the microbial diversity. The ratio of microbial PLFA cyclopropyl to precursors (Cy/Pr) and the ratio of saturated PLFA to monounsaturated PLFA (S/M) as indicators of microbial stress were controlled by pH, but high pH was not conducive to microorganisms in this area. Meanwhile, Cy/Pr in all communities was >0.1, indicating that microorganisms were under environmental stress. Therefore, the further ecological restoration of degraded karst communities is needed to improve their microbial communities.

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