Competitive and cooperative metabolic interactions in bacterial communities

Shiri Freilich (), Raphy Zarecki, Omer Eilam, Ella Shtifman Segal, Christopher S. Henry, Martin Kupiec, Uri Gophna, Roded Sharan and Eytan Ruppin ()
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Shiri Freilich: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University
Raphy Zarecki: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University
Omer Eilam: Computation Institute, University of Chicago
Ella Shtifman Segal: Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University
Christopher S. Henry: Computation Institute, University of Chicago
Martin Kupiec: Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University
Uri Gophna: Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University
Roded Sharan: The Blavatnik School of Computer Science, Tel Aviv University
Eytan Ruppin: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University

Nature Communications, 2011, vol. 2, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Revealing the ecological principles that shape communities is a major challenge of the post-genomic era. To date, a systematic approach for describing inter-species interactions has been lacking. Here we independently predict the competitive and cooperative potential between 6,903 bacterial pairs derived from a collection of 118 species' metabolic models. We chart an intricate association between competition and cooperation indicating that the cooperative potential is maximized at moderate levels of resource overlap. Utilizing ecological data from 2,801 samples, we explore the associations between bacterial interactions and coexistence patterns. The high level of competition observed between species with mutual-exclusive distribution patterns supports the role of competition in community assembly. Cooperative interactions are typically unidirectional with no obvious benefit to the giver. However, within their natural communities, bacteria typically form close cooperative loops resulting in indirect benefit to all species involved. These findings are important for the future design of consortia optimized towards bioremediation and bio-production applications.

Date: 2011
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:2:y:2011:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1597

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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1597

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