Competitive Exclusion and Metabolic Dependency among Microorganisms Structure the Cellulose Economy of an Agricultural Soil.

Autor: Wilhelm RC; School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA rwilhelm@cornell.edu., Pepe-Ranney C; School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA., Weisenhorn P; Biosciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA., Lipton M; Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Lab, Richland, Washington, USA., Buckley DH; School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: MBio [mBio] 2021 Jan 05; Vol. 12 (1). Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Jan 05.
DOI: 10.1128/mBio.03099-20
Abstrakt: Microorganisms that degrade cellulose utilize extracellular reactions that yield free by-products which can promote interactions with noncellulolytic organisms. We hypothesized that these interactions determine the ecological and physiological traits governing the fate of cellulosic carbon (C) in soil. We performed comparative genomics with genome bins from a shotgun metagenomic-stable isotope probing experiment to characterize the attributes of cellulolytic and noncellulolytic taxa accessing 13 C from cellulose. We hypothesized that cellulolytic taxa would exhibit competitive traits that limit access, while noncellulolytic taxa would display greater metabolic dependency, such as signatures of adaptive gene loss. We tested our hypotheses by evaluating genomic traits indicative of competitive exclusion or metabolic dependency, such as antibiotic production, growth rate, surface attachment, biomass degrading potential, and auxotrophy. The most 13 C-enriched taxa were cellulolytic Cellvibrio ( Gammaproteobacteria ) and Chaetomium ( Ascomycota ), which exhibited a strategy of self-sufficiency (prototrophy), rapid growth, and competitive exclusion via antibiotic production. Auxotrophy was more prevalent in cellulolytic Actinobacteria than in cellulolytic Proteobacteria , demonstrating differences in dependency among cellulose degraders. Noncellulolytic taxa that accessed 13 C from cellulose ( Planctomycetales , Verrucomicrobia , and Vampirovibrionales ) were also more dependent, as indicated by patterns of auxotrophy and 13 C labeling (i.e., partial labeling or labeling at later stages). Major 13 C-labeled cellulolytic microbes (e.g., Sorangium, Actinomycetales, Rhizobiales , and Caulobacteraceae ) possessed adaptations for surface colonization (e.g., gliding motility, hyphae, attachment structures) signifying the importance of surface ecology in decomposing particulate organic matter. Our results demonstrated that access to cellulosic C was accompanied by ecological trade-offs characterized by differing degrees of metabolic dependency and competitive exclusion. IMPORTANCE Our study reveals the ecogenomic traits of microorganisms participating in the cellulose economy of soil. We identified three major categories of participants in this economy: (i) independent primary degraders, (ii) interdependent primary degraders, and (iii) secondary consumers (mutualists, opportunists, and parasites). Trade-offs between independent primary degraders, whose adaptations favor antagonism and competitive exclusion, and interdependent and secondary degraders, whose adaptations favor complex interspecies interactions, are expected to affect the fate of microbially processed carbon in soil. Our findings provide useful insights into the ecological relationships that govern one of the planet's most abundant resources of organic carbon. Furthermore, we demonstrate a novel gradient-resolved approach for stable isotope probing, which provides a cultivation-independent, genome-centric perspective into soil microbial processes.
(Copyright © 2021 Wilhelm et al.)
Databáze: MEDLINE