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Title: The social network of microorganisms — how auxotrophies shape complex communities

Journal Article · · Nature Reviews Microbiology

Microorganisms engage in complex interactions with other organisms and their environment. Recent studies have shown that these interactions are not limited to the exchange of electron donors. Most microorganisms are auxotrophs, thus relying on external nutrients for growth, including the exchange of amino acids and vitamins. Currently, we lack a deeper understanding of auxotrophies in microorganisms and how nutrient requirements differ between different strains and different environments. In this Opinion article, we describe how the study of auxotrophies and nutrient requirements among members of complex communities will enable new insights into community composition and assembly. Furthermore, understanding this complex network over space and time is crucial for developing strategies to interrogate and shape microbial communities.

Research Organization:
Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012658
OSTI ID:
1485597
Journal Information:
Nature Reviews Microbiology, Vol. 16, Issue 6; ISSN 1740-1526
Publisher:
Springer NatureCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 196 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (27)

Nanocatalytic Medicine journal July 2019
Soil biofilms: microbial interactions, challenges, and advanced techniques for ex-situ characterization journal July 2019
Expansive microbial metabolic versatility and biodiversity in dynamic Guaymas Basin hydrothermal sediments journal November 2018
Gut bacteria responding to dietary change encode sialidases that exhibit preference for red meat-associated carbohydrates journal September 2019
Environmental stimuli drive a transition from cooperation to competition in synthetic phototrophic communities journal October 2019
Common principles and best practices for engineering microbiomes journal September 2019
Ecological drivers of bacterial community assembly in synthetic phycospheres journal February 2020
Can dynamic network modelling be used to identify adaptive microbiomes? journal December 2019
Novel energy conservation strategies and behaviour of Pelotomaculum schinkii driving syntrophic propionate catabolism journal October 2018
Incorporating phylogenetic metrics to microbial co‐occurrence networks based on amplicon sequences to discern community assembly processes journal September 2019
Metatranscriptomic and comparative genomic insights into resuscitation mechanisms during enrichment culturing journal December 2018
Exploring the effects of operational mode and microbial interactions on bacterial community assembly in a one-stage partial-nitritation anammox reactor using integrated multi-omics journal August 2019
Gastric bypass surgery in a rat model alters the community structure and functional composition of the intestinal microbiota independently of weight loss journal February 2020
Metabolic network percolation quantifies biosynthetic capabilities across the human oral microbiome journal June 2019
Metabolic Overlap in Environmentally Diverse Microbial Communities journal October 2019
Metabolic Modeling Elucidates the Transactions in the Rumen Microbiome and the Shifts Upon Virome Interactions journal October 2019
Enhanced nutrient uptake is sufficient to drive emergent cross-feeding between bacteria in a synthetic community journal August 2020
Polarization of microbial communities between competitive and cooperative metabolism journal January 2021
Model communities hint at promiscuous metabolic linkages between ubiquitous free-living freshwater bacteria text January 2019
Synthetic Biology Tools to Engineer Microbial Communities for Biotechnology journal February 2019
Dynamics of ColicinE2 production and release determine the competitive success of a toxin-producing bacterial population journal March 2020
Uncovering and resolving challenges of quantitative modeling in a simplified community of interacting cells journal February 2019
The genetic basis for adaptation of model-designed syntrophic co-cultures journal March 2019
Core Gut Bacteria Analysis of Healthy Mice journal April 2019
Bottom-Up Approaches to Synthetic Cooperation in Microbial Communities journal February 2019
A riboswitch gives rise to multi-generational phenotypic heterogeneity in an auxotrophic bacterium text January 2020
The advantage of leakage of essential metabolites and resultant symbiosis of diverse species text January 2018

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