Low-level resource partitioning supports coexistence among functionally redundant bacteria during successional dynamics.

ABSTRACT: Members of microbial communities can substantially overlap in substrate use. However, what enables functionally redundant microorganisms to coassemble or even stably coexist remains poorly understood. Here, we show that during unstable successional dynamics on complex, natural organic matter, functionally redundant bacteria can coexist by partitioning low-concentration substrates even though they compete for one simple, dominant substrate. We allowed ocean microbial communities to self-assemble on leachates of the brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus and then analyzed the competition among 10 taxonomically diverse isolates representing two distinct stages of the succession. All, but two isolates, exhibited an average of 90% ± 6% pairwise overlap in resource use, and functional redundancy of iso

SUBMITTER: Yu XA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10811730 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature