Bacteria-phage (co)evolution is constrained in a synthetic community across multiple bacteria-phage pairs.

ABSTRACT: Bacteriophages can be important drivers of bacterial densities and, therefore, microbial community composition and function. These ecological interactions are likely to be greatly affected by evolutionary dynamics because bacteria can rapidly evolve resistance to phage, while phage can reciprocally evolve to increase infectivity. Most studies to date have explored eco-evolutionary dynamics using isolated pairs of bacteria-phage, but in nature, multiple bacteria and phages coexist and (co)evolve simultaneously. How coevolution plays out in this context is poorly understood. Here, we examine how three coexisting soil bacteria (Ochrobactrum sp., Pseudomonas sp. and Variovorax sp.) interact and evolve with three species-specific bacteriophages over 8 weeks of experimental

SUBMITTER: Castledine M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12178565 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature