The impact of tropodithietic acid on microbial physiology under varying culture complexities.

ABSTRACT: Understanding marine bacterial physiology under environmentally relevant conditions requires the study of biotic interactions across systems of varying complexities. Here, we examine how the capability of Phaeobacter inhibens bacteria to produce tropodithietic acid (TDA), a secondary metabolite, influences microbial physiology and interactions. Our systematic approach, which includes progressing from bacterial monocultures to co-cultures and tri-cultures involving algal hosts, allows us to evaluate the impact of the tdaB gene and the TDA metabolite on microbial interactions. Our findings show that deleting the tdaB gene resulted in no detectable TDA production and affected bacteria-bacteria interactions in co-culture but not in tri-cultures with the algal host. Additio

SUBMITTER: Shlakhter O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12379602 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature