Degradation of extracellular polymeric substances shapes microbial community diversity.

ABSTRACT: Metabolic cross-feeding networks are central to shaping microbial community dynamics in environments ranging from the rhizosphere, gut, and marine carbon cycling. Yet cross-feeding has predominantly been viewed by examining exchanged small metabolites. In contrast, the role of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS)-a complex mixture of proteins, polysaccharides, DNA, and humic-like compounds-in cross-feeding remains poorly understood, mainly due to technical challenges in measuring their secretion relative to small metabolites. Using chitin-degrading microbes as a model system, we used a bicarbonate-buffered bioreactor coupled with elemental analysis, which allowed us to quantify both EPS and small metabolite secretion. This revealed that ~25% of carbon exuded by a chitin degrader is in t

SUBMITTER: Pontrelli S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12306770 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature