scholarly journals The role of competition versus cooperation in microbial community coalescence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Lechon Alonso ◽  
Tom Clegg ◽  
Jacob Cook ◽  
Thomas P Smith ◽  
Samraat Pawar
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Competition And Cooperation ◽  
Species Invasions ◽  
Determine Role

Microbial communities are ubiquitous in nature. Although processes driving the assembly of these consortia are not yet well understood, new communities frequently emerge when two or more microbial ensembles encounter each other and mix to yield a new functioning aggregation, termed "community coalescence". Despite recent advances in our understanding of coalescence, theoretical work has focused mainly on competition, and more work is necessary to determine role of other common microbial interactions, such as cooperation. In this work, we study the combined effects that competitive and cooperative interactions have in the outcome of coalescence events. We simulate communities with varying levels of each type of interaction using a consumer-resource model with cross-feeding on metabolic by-products. We then perform coalescence simulations and measure interaction levels on the pre- and post-coalescence communities using new metrics of competition and cooperation that we present previously. We find that when both interactions are present, the less competitive community tends to succeed in community coalescence, regardless of its cooperativity, suggesting that minimizing competition is the main driving force of this process. When competition is weak however, simulations show that highly cooperative communities are at a disadvantage in coalescence events, indicating that multi-species invasions tend to intercept cooperative links. Microbial community coalescence is gaining popularity in applied and basic research due to its multiple advantages. In the absence of theory that supports real life observations, here we develop a framework to understand and predict the result of community coalescence events from the perspective of biotic interactions present in the community.

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.

scholarly journals Tephritid-microbial interactions to enhance fruit fly performance in sterile insect technique programs

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (S1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ania T. Deutscher ◽  
Toni A. Chapman ◽  
Lucas A. Shuttleworth ◽  
Markus Riegler ◽  
Olivia L. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Sterile Insect Technique ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Mass Rearing ◽  
Fruit Flies ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Important Pest ◽  
Gut Microbial Community

Abstract Background The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is being applied for the management of economically important pest fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in a number of countries worldwide. The success and cost effectiveness of SIT depends upon the ability of mass-reared sterilized male insects to successfully copulate with conspecific wild fertile females when released in the field. Methods We conducted a critical analysis of the literature about the tephritid gut microbiome including the advancement of methods for the identification and characterization of microbiota, particularly next generation sequencing, the impacts of irradiation (to induce sterility of flies) and fruit fly rearing, and the use of probiotics to manipulate the fruit fly gut microbiota. Results Domestication, mass-rearing, irradiation and handling, as required in SIT, may change the structure of the fruit flies’ gut microbial community compared to that of wild flies under field conditions. Gut microbiota of tephritids are important in their hosts’ development, performance and physiology. Knowledge of how mass-rearing and associated changes of the microbial community impact the functional role of the bacteria and host biology is limited. Probiotics offer potential to encourage a gut microbial community that limits pathogens, and improves the quality of fruit flies. Conclusions Advances in technologies used to identify and characterize the gut microbiota will continue to expand our understanding of tephritid gut microbial diversity and community composition. Knowledge about the functions of gut microbes will increase through the use of gnotobiotic models, genome sequencing, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metabolomics and metaproteomics. The use of probiotics, or manipulation of the gut microbiota, offers significant opportunities to enhance the production of high quality, performing fruit flies in operational SIT programs.

scholarly journals Auxotrophic interactions: a stabilizing attribute of aquatic microbial communities?

2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Winifred M Johnson ◽  
Harriet Alexander ◽  
Raven L Bier ◽  
Dan R Miller ◽  
Mario E Muscarella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Harmful Algal Blooms ◽  
Algal Blooms ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Aquatic Microorganisms ◽  
The Stability

ABSTRACT Auxotrophy, or an organism's requirement for an exogenous source of an organic molecule, is widespread throughout species and ecosystems. Auxotrophy can result in obligate interactions between organisms, influencing ecosystem structure and community composition. We explore how auxotrophy-induced interactions between aquatic microorganisms affect microbial community structure and stability. While some studies have documented auxotrophy in aquatic microorganisms, these studies are not widespread, and we therefore do not know the full extent of auxotrophic interactions in aquatic environments. Current theoretical and experimental work suggests that auxotrophy links microbial community members through a complex web of metabolic dependencies. We discuss the proposed ways in which auxotrophy may enhance or undermine the stability of aquatic microbial communities, highlighting areas where our limited understanding of these interactions prevents us from being able to predict the ecological implications of auxotrophy. Finally, we examine an example of auxotrophy in harmful algal blooms to place this often theoretical discussion in a field context where auxotrophy may have implications for the development and robustness of algal bloom communities. We seek to draw attention to the relationship between auxotrophy and community stability in an effort to encourage further field and theoretical work that explores the underlying principles of microbial interactions.

scholarly journals Unraveling negative biotic interactions determining soil microbial community assembly and functioning

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sana Romdhane ◽  
Aymé Spor ◽  
Julie Aubert ◽  
David Bru ◽  
Marie-Christine Breuil ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Soil Microbial Community ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Relative Fitness ◽  
Soil Microbiome ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
Microbial Community Assembly

AbstractMicrobial communities play important roles in all ecosystems and yet a comprehensive understanding of the ecological processes governing the assembly of these communities is missing. To address the role of biotic interactions between microorganisms in assembly and for functioning of the soil microbiota, we used a top-down manipulation approach based on the removal of various populations in a natural soil microbial community. We hypothesized that removal of certain microbial groups will strongly affect the relative fitness of many others, therefore unraveling the contribution of biotic interactions in shaping the soil microbiome. Here we show that 39% of the dominant bacterial taxa across treatments were subjected to competitive interactions during soil recolonization, highlighting the importance of biotic interactions in the assembly of microbial communities in soil. Moreover, our approach allowed the identification of microbial community assembly rule as exemplified by the competitive exclusion between members of Bacillales and Proteobacteriales. Modified biotic interactions resulted in greater changes in activities related to N- than to C-cycling. Our approach can provide a new and promising avenue to study microbial interactions in complex ecosystems as well as the links between microbial community composition and ecosystem function.

Cubilin, the Intrinsic Factor-Vitamin B12 Receptor in Development and Disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (19) ◽  
pp. 3123-3150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Kozyraki ◽  
Olivier Cases
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin B12 ◽  
Cancer Progression ◽  
Intrinsic Factor ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Toxic Substances ◽  
Human Pathology ◽  
Peripheral Membrane Protein ◽  
Epidermal Growth ◽  
Fgf8 Signaling

Gp280/Intrinsic factor-vitamin B12 receptor/Cubilin (CUBN) is a large endocytic receptor serving multiple functions in vitamin B12 homeostasis, renal reabsorption of protein or toxic substances including albumin, vitamin D-binding protein or cadmium. Cubilin is a peripheral membrane protein consisting of 8 Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF)-like repeats and 27 CUB (defined as Complement C1r/C1s, Uegf, BMP1) domains. This structurally unique protein interacts with at least two molecular partners, Amnionless (AMN) and Lrp2/Megalin. AMN is involved in appropriate plasma membrane transport of Cubilin whereas Lrp2 is essential for efficient internalization of Cubilin and its ligands. Observations gleaned from animal models with Cubn deficiency or human diseases demonstrate the importance of this protein. In this review addressed to basic research and medical scientists, we summarize currently available data on Cubilin and its implication in renal and intestinal biology. We also discuss the role of Cubilin as a modulator of Fgf8 signaling during embryonic development and propose that the Cubilin-Fgf8 interaction may be relevant in human pathology, including in cancer progression, heart or neural tube defects. We finally provide experimental elements suggesting that some aspects of Cubilin physiology might be relevant in drug design.

scholarly journals Twitter in Marketing Practice of the Religious Media. An Empirical Study on Catholic Weeklies in Poland

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 421
Author(s):  
Iwona Leonowicz-Bukała ◽  
Andrzej Adamski ◽  
Anna Jupowicz-Ginalska
Keyword(s):  
Communication Channel ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Marketing Practice ◽  
Religious Media ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Twitter Account ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Marketing Tool

This article presents the partial conclusion of the research project devoted to marketing activity of Polish Catholic opinion-forming weeklies on the social media platforms. The main aim of this article is to present the results of the study on the use of Twitter as a marketing tool by Polish nationwide Catholic opinion-forming weeklies. The basic research questions concerned the extent of utilizing the platform by the magazines’ editors to create and distribute the content of their media product, maintain and develop brand communication and self-promotion. The case studies and the content analysis of the accounts of the three magazines—Gość Niedzielny, Tygodnik Katolicki Niedziela and Przewodnik Katolicki—show that there are three different ways in how the editors of the magazines understand the role of the Twitter account of the title they represent—as an ‘active communicator’, ‘active communicator and community supporter’ or ‘community supporter’. The conclusions show that the studied media fairly efficiently use the visual and distributional potential of the platform as well as some of its features, at the same time missing the chance to build a brand-loyal community. They also limit the role of Twitter to that of a supplement for the main communication channel, which is the printed weekly and its website.

scholarly journals The microbiome’s relationship with congenital heart disease: more than a gut feeling

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Feng ◽  
Jason T. Christensen ◽  
Anji T. Yetman ◽  
Merry L. Lindsey ◽  
Amar B. Singh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Congenital Heart Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Patient Population ◽  
Congenital Heart ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Intestinal Epithelial ◽  
Barrier Dysfunction ◽  
Intestinal Dysbiosis ◽  
Epithelial Barrier Dysfunction

AbstractPatients with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at risk for developing intestinal dysbiosis and intestinal epithelial barrier dysfunction due to abnormal gut perfusion or hypoxemia in the context of low cardiac output or cyanosis. Intestinal dysbiosis may contribute to systemic inflammation thereby worsening clinical outcomes in this patient population. Despite significant advances in the management and survival of patients with CHD, morbidity remains significant and questions have arisen as to the role of the microbiome in the inflammatory process. Intestinal dysbiosis and barrier dysfunction experienced in this patient population are increasingly implicated in critical illness. This review highlights possible CHD-microbiome interactions, illustrates underlying signaling mechanisms, and discusses future directions and therapeutic translation of the basic research.

scholarly journals Calibrating the CreditRisk+ Model at Different Time Scales and in Presence of Temporal Autocorrelation †

Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (14) ◽  
pp. 1679
Author(s):  
Jacopo Giacomelli ◽  
Luca Passalacqua
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Default Risk ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Statistical Error ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Sampling Period ◽  
Calibration Procedure ◽  
Industry Standards ◽  
Default Rate

The CreditRisk+ model is one of the industry standards for the valuation of default risk in credit loans portfolios. The calibration of CreditRisk+ requires, inter alia, the specification of the parameters describing the structure of dependence among default events. This work addresses the calibration of these parameters. In particular, we study the dependence of the calibration procedure on the sampling period of the default rate time series, that might be different from the time horizon onto which the model is used for forecasting, as it is often the case in real life applications. The case of autocorrelated time series and the role of the statistical error as a function of the time series period are also discussed. The findings of the proposed calibration technique are illustrated with the support of an application to real data.

scholarly journals Calculators as Facilitators of Understanding Computational and Mathematical Contexts

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-183
Author(s):  
Jan Guncaga ◽  
Lilla Korenova ◽  
Jozef Hvorecky
Keyword(s):  
Soft Skills ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Learning To Learn ◽  
Life Problems ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractLearning is a complex phenomenon. Contemporary theories of education underline active participation of learners in their learning processes. One of the key arguments supporting this approach is the learner’s simultaneous and unconscious development of their ability of “learning to learn”. This ability belongs to the soft skills highly valued by employers today.For Mathematics Education, it means that teachers have to go beyond making calculations and memorizing formulas. We have to teach the subject in its social context. When the students start understanding the relationship between real-life problems and the role of numbers and formulas for their solutions, their learning becomes a part of their tacit knowledge. Below we explain the theoretical background of our approach and provide examples of such activities.

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