Assessing the importance of interspecific interactions in the evolution of microbial communities. Issue 11 (15th November 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Raynaud, Tiffany; Blouin, Manuel; Devers‐Lamrani, Marion; Garmyn, Dominique; Spor, Aymé
• Is Part Of: Ecology and evolution. Volume 12:Issue 11(2022)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2022-11-15
• Subjects: abiotic environment -- experimental evolution -- interspecific interactions -- productivity -- synthetic bacterial communities; Ecology -- Periodicals; Evolution -- Periodicals; 577.05
• DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9494
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2045-7758

Abstract

Abstract: Interspecific interactions play an important role in the establishment of a community phenotype. Furthermore, the evolution of a community can both occur through an independent evolution of the species composing the community and the interactions among them. In this study, we investigated how important the evolution of interspecific interactions was in the evolutionary response of eight two‐bacterial species communities regarding productivity. We found evidence for an evolution of the interactions in half of the studied communities, which gave rise to a mean change of 15% in community productivity as compared to what was expected from the individual responses. Even when the interactions did not evolve themselves, they influenced the evolutionary responses of the bacterial strains within the communities, which further affected community response. We found that evolution within a community often promoted the adaptation of the bacterial strains to the abiotic environment, especially for the dominant strain in a community. Overall, this study suggested that the evolution of the interspecific interactions was frequent and that it could increase community response to evolution. Abstract : The evolution of a community can not only occur through an evolution of the species composing the community but also of the interactions among them. In this study, we found evidence for an evolution of the interactions in half of the studied bacterial communities, which gave rise to a mean change of 15% in community productivity as compared to what was expected from the individual responses. It suggested that the evolution of the interspecific interactions was frequent and played a role in community evolutionary response.