Journal
MSYSTEMS
Volume 4, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY
DOI: 10.1128/mSystems.00352-19
Keywords
metabolite cross-feeding; microbial consortia; synthetic biology
Categories
Funding
- Defense Advanced Research Program Agency [DARPA BRICS HR0011-15-C-0094]
- NIH [T32 HL007627]
- Harvard Digestive Diseases Center [P30 DK034854]
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
- Human Frontier Science Program Long-Term Fellowship
- National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) RG Menzies Early Career Fellowship from the Menzies Foundation Australia
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In nature, microbes interact antagonistically, neutrally, or beneficially. To shed light on the effects of positive interactions in microbial consortia, we introduced metabolic dependencies and metabolite overproduction into four bacterial species. While antagonistic interactions govern the wild-type consortium behavior, the genetic modifications alleviated antagonistic interactions and resulted in beneficial interactions. Engineered cross-feeding increased population evenness, a component of ecological diversity, in different environments, including in a more complex gnotobiotic mouse gut environment. Our findings suggest that metabolite cross-feeding could be used as a tool for intentionally shaping microbial consortia in complex environments. IMPORTANCE Microbial communities are ubiquitous in nature. Bacterial consortia live in and on our body and in our environment, and more recently, biotechnology is applying microbial consortia for bioproduction. As part of our body, bacterial consortia influence us in health and disease. Microbial consortium function is determined by its composition, which in turn is driven by the interactions between species. Further understanding of microbial interactions will help us in deciphering how consortia function in complex environments and may enable us to modify microbial consortia for health and environmental benefits.
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