Rapid evolution of stability and productivity at the origin of a microbial mutualism.

ABSTRACT: Mutualistic interactions are taxonomically and functionally diverse. Despite their ubiquity, however, the basic ecological and evolutionary processes underlying their origin and maintenance are poorly understood. A major reason for this is the lack of an experimentally tractable model system. We examine the evolution of an experimentally imposed obligate mutualism between sulfate-reducing and methanogenic microorganisms that have no known history of previous interaction. Twenty-four independent pairings (cocultures) of the bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris and the archaeon Methanococcus maripaludis were established and followed for 300 community doublings in two environments, one allowing for the development of a heterogeneous distribution of resources and the other not. Evolved cocultures

SUBMITTER: Hillesland KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2836651 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature