The ecology and evolution of microbial metabolic strategies.

Djordje Bajic, Alvaro Sanchez

Journal: Current opinion in biotechnology 2020;62():123-128

PMID: 31670179

Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

Abstract

Free-living microbes are generally capable of growing on multiple different nutrients. Some of those nutrients are used simultaneously, while others are used sequentially. The pattern of nutrient preferences and co-utilization defines the metabolic strategy of a microorganism. Metabolic strategies can substantially affect ecological interactions between species, but their evolution and distribution across the tree of life remain poorly characterized. We discuss how the confluence of better computational models of genotype-phenotype maps and high-throughput experimental tools can help us fill gaps in our knowledge and incorporate metabolic strategies into quantitative predictive models of microbial consortia.

Address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, United States; Microbial Sciences Institute, Yale University West Campus, West Haven, CT 06516, United States.; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, United States; Microbial Sciences Institute, Yale University West Campus, West Haven, CT 06516, United States. Electronic address: [email protected].

DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2019.09.003

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MeSH Terms: Ecology, Microbial Consortia