Journal
PLOS ONE
Volume 16, Issue 5, Pages -Publisher
PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251643
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Funding
- EPSRC Cambridge NanoDTC [EP/L015978/1]
- Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability
- EPSRC mobility fellowship [EP/J004847/1]
- BBSRC DTP [BB/M011194/1]
- Raymond and Beverly Sackler Scholarship
- Mines ParisTech
- Academy Fellow Grant from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation
- Swedish Museum of Natural History
- Swedish Research Council [2014-06375]
- University of Iceland
- Consortium of Danish geoscience institutions
- BBSRC [BB/M011194/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- EPSRC [EP/J004847/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Swedish Research Council [2014-06375] Funding Source: Swedish Research Council
- Vinnova [2014-06375] Funding Source: Vinnova
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Microbial communities play a significant role in biogeochemical processes, animal and plant health, and biotechnological purposes. Isotope labelling combined with SIMS analysis can identify nutrient fluxes and substrate utilisation heterogeneity on a single cell level. By combining SIMS experiments with mechanistic modelling, this study reveals otherwise inaccessible nutrient kinetics in microbial interactions, contributing to a better understanding of these dynamics.
Microbial communities are of considerable significance for biogeochemical processes, for the health of both animals and plants, and for biotechnological purposes. A key feature of microbial interactions is the exchange of nutrients between cells. Isotope labelling followed by analysis with secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) can identify nutrient fluxes and heterogeneity of substrate utilisation on a single cell level. Here we present a novel approach that combines SIMS experiments with mechanistic modelling to reveal otherwise inaccessible nutrient kinetics. The method is applied to study the onset of a synthetic mutualistic partnership between a vitamin B-12-dependent mutant of the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and the B-12-producing, heterotrophic bacterium Mesorhizobium japonicum, which is supported by algal photosynthesis. Results suggest that an initial pool of fixed carbon delays the onset of mutualistic cross-feeding; significantly, our approach allows the first quantification of this expected delay. Our method is widely applicable to other microbial systems, and will contribute to furthering a mechanistic understanding of microbial interactions.
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