Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Modular assembly of polysaccharide-degrading microbial communities in the ocean

Tim N. Enke, Manoshi S. Datta, Julia Schwartzman, Nathan Cermak, Désirée Schmitz, Julien Barrere, Otto X. Cordero
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/387191
Tim N. Enke
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
2Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Manoshi S. Datta
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Julia Schwartzman
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Nathan Cermak
3Program in Computational and Systems Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Désirée Schmitz
2Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Julien Barrere
2Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Otto X. Cordero
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Many complex biological systems such as metabolic networks can be divided into functional and organizational subunits, called modules, which provide the flexibility to assemble novel multi-functional hierarchies by a mix and match of simpler components. Here we show that polysaccharide-degrading microbial communities in the ocean can also assemble in a modular fashion. Using synthetic particles made of a variety of polysaccharides commonly found in the ocean, we showed that the particle colonization dynamics of natural bacterioplankton assemblages can be understood as the aggregation of species modules of two main types: a first module type made of narrow niche-range primary degraders, whose dynamics are controlled by particle polysaccharide composition, and a second module type containing broad niche-range, substrate-independent taxa whose dynamics are controlled by interspecific interactions, in particular cross-feeding via organic acids, amino acids and other metabolic byproducts. As a consequence of this modular logic, communities can be predicted to assemble by a sum of substrate-specific primary degrader modules, one for each complex polysaccharide in the particle, connected to a single broad-niche range consumer module. We validate this model by showing that a linear combination of the communities on single-polysaccharide particles accurately predicts community composition on mixed-polysaccharide particles. Our results suggest thus that the assembly of heterotrophic communities that degrade complex organic materials follow simple design principles that can be exploited to engineer heterotrophic microbiomes.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted August 08, 2018.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Modular assembly of polysaccharide-degrading microbial communities in the ocean
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Modular assembly of polysaccharide-degrading microbial communities in the ocean
Tim N. Enke, Manoshi S. Datta, Julia Schwartzman, Nathan Cermak, Désirée Schmitz, Julien Barrere, Otto X. Cordero
bioRxiv 387191; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/387191
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Modular assembly of polysaccharide-degrading microbial communities in the ocean
Tim N. Enke, Manoshi S. Datta, Julia Schwartzman, Nathan Cermak, Désirée Schmitz, Julien Barrere, Otto X. Cordero
bioRxiv 387191; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/387191

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Microbiology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (3513)
  • Biochemistry (7359)
  • Bioengineering (5338)
  • Bioinformatics (20306)
  • Biophysics (10034)
  • Cancer Biology (7763)
  • Cell Biology (11333)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (6444)
  • Ecology (9968)
  • Epidemiology (2065)
  • Evolutionary Biology (13346)
  • Genetics (9366)
  • Genomics (12598)
  • Immunology (7719)
  • Microbiology (19060)
  • Molecular Biology (7452)
  • Neuroscience (41108)
  • Paleontology (300)
  • Pathology (1233)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2141)
  • Physiology (3171)
  • Plant Biology (6869)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1275)
  • Synthetic Biology (1899)
  • Systems Biology (5320)
  • Zoology (1090)