Journal
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY REVIEWS
Volume 45, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/femsre/fuaa068
Keywords
population dynamics; single cell; microbial responses; changing environments; microbial evolution; microbial physiology
Categories
Funding
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation [GBMF3783, GBMF3801]
- Simons Foundation [542395]
- Swiss National Science Foundation [315230 176189]
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [315230_176189] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
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This review discusses how bacteria experience spatial and temporal heterogeneities in their environments, focusing on their response to nutrient fluctuations. Environmental fluctuations are found to be ubiquitous and diverse, strongly shaping microbial behavior, ecology, and evolution.
From the homeostasis of human health to the cycling of Earth's elements, microbial activities underlie environmental, medical and industrial processes. These activities occur in chemical and physical landscapes that are highly dynamic and experienced by bacteria as fluctuations. In this review, we first discuss how bacteria can experience both spatial and temporal heterogeneity in their environments as temporal fluctuations of various timescales (seconds to seasons) and types (nutrient, sunlight, fluid flow, etc.). We then focus primarily on nutrient fluctuations to discuss how bacterial communities, populations and single cells respond to environmental fluctuations. Overall, we find that environmental fluctuations are ubiquitous and diverse, and strongly shape microbial behavior, ecology and evolution when compared with environments in which conditions remain constant over time. We hope this review may serve as a guide toward understanding the significance of environmental fluctuations in microbial life, such that their contributions and implications can be better assessed and exploited.
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