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Metabolic resource allocation in individual microbes determines ecosystem interactions and spatial dynamics

From Complex Time
Category
General Reference
author-supplied keywords
keywords
authors
William R. Harcombe
William J. Riehl
Ilija Dukovski
Brian R. Granger
Alex Betts
Alex H. Lang
Gracia Bonilla
Amrita Kar
Nicholas Leiby
Pankaj Mehta
Christopher J. Marx
Daniel Segrè
title
Metabolic resource allocation in individual microbes determines ecosystem interactions and spatial dynamics
type
journal
year
2014
source
Cell Reports
pages
1104-1115
volume
7
issue
4
publisher
Elsevier
link
https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/115fae13-c4a6-37bf-9694-64c0184ab9e7/(Error!"Error!" is not a number.)

Abstract

The interspecies exchange of metabolites plays a key role in the spatiotemporal dynamics of microbial communities. This raises the question of whether ecosystem-level behavior of structured communities can be predicted using genome-scale metabolic models for multiple organisms. We developed a modeling framework that integrates dynamic flux balance analysis with diffusion on a lattice and applied it to engineered communities. First, we predicted and experimentally confirmed the species ratio to which a two-species mutualistic consortium converges and the equilibrium composition of a newly engineered three-member community. We next identified a specific spatial arrangement of colonies, which gives rise to what we term the "eclipse dilemma": does a competitor placed between a colony and its cross-feeding partner benefit or hurt growth of the original colony? Our experimentally validated finding that the net outcome is beneficial highlights the complex nature of metabolic interactions in microbial communities while at the same time demonstrating their predictability. © 2014 The Authors.

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Citation count From Scopus. Refreshed every 5 days.
376
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Identifiers

  • doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2014.03.070 (Google search)
  • issn: 22111247
  • sgr: 84901273253
  • isbn: 2211-1247 (Electronic)
  • pmid: 24794435
  • scopus: 2-s2.0-84901273253
  • pui: 53123010

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