Journal
ECOLOGY LETTERS
Volume 21, Issue 1, Pages 117-127Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/ele.12878
Keywords
Adaptation; detoxification; ecological species sorting; evolution; metal tolerance; public good dynamics; remediation; selection
Categories
Funding
- AXA Research Fund
- BBSRC research council [BB/K003240]
- NERC research council [NE/P001130]
- Bridging the Gaps award
- University of Exeter
- Horizon Framework Programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant [656647]
- Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowships within the EU Seventh Framework Programme
- Royal Society
- BBSRC [BB/K003240/1, BB/K003240/2] Funding Source: UKRI
- NERC [NE/P003214/1, NE/P001130/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/K003240/2, BB/K003240/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/P001130/1, NE/P003214/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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Some microbial public goods can provide both individual and community-wide benefits, and are open to exploitation by non-producing species. One such example is the production of metal-detoxifying siderophores. Here, we investigate whether conflicting selection pressures on siderophore production by heavy metals - a detoxifying effect of siderophores, and exploitation of this detoxifying effect - result in a net increase or decrease. We show that the proportion of siderophore-producing taxa increases along a natural heavy metal gradient. A causal link between metal contamination and siderophore production was subsequently demonstrated in a microcosm experiment in compost, in which we observed changes in community composition towards taxa that produce relatively more siderophores following copper contamination. We confirmed the selective benefit of siderophores by showing that taxa producing large amounts of siderophore suffered less growth inhibition in toxic copper. Our results suggest that ecological selection will favour siderophore-mediated decontamination, with important consequences for potential remediation strategies.
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