Microbes are often discussed in terms of dichotomies such as copiotrophic/oligotrophic and fast/slow-growing microbes, defined using the characterisation of microbial growth in isolated cultures. The dichotomies are usually qualitative and/or study-specific, sometimes precluding clear-cut results interpretation. We can unravel microbial dichotomies as life history strategies by combining ecology theory with Monod curves, a laboratory mathematical tool of bacterial physiology that relates the specific growth rate of a microbe with the concentration of a limiting nutrient. Fitting of Monod curves provides quantities that directly correspond to key parameters in ecological theories addressing species coexistence and diversity, such as r/K selection theory, resource competition and community structure theory and the CSR triangle of life strategies. The resulting model allows us to reconcile the copiotrophic/oligotrophic and fast/slow-growing dichotomies as different subsamples of a life history strategy triangle that also includes r/K strategists. We also used the number of known carbon sources together with community structure theory to partially explain the diversity of heterotrophic microbes observed in metagenomics experiments. In sum, we propose a theoretical framework for the study of natural microbial communities that unifies several existing proposals. Its application would require the integration of metagenomics, metametabolomics, Monod curves and carbon source data.
Couso, L. L.; Soler Bistué, A.; Aptekmann, A. A. & Sánchez, I. E. (2023).Ecology theory disentangles microbial dichotomies.Environmental Microbiology,25, (12),p.3052–3063
10.1111/1462-2920.16495
Couso, Luciana Laura, Soler Bistué, Alfonso, Aptekmann, Ariel A., Sánchez, Ignacio E..2023. "Ecology theory disentangles microbial dichotomies".Environmental Microbiology 25, no.12:3052–3063.
Recuperado de http://ri.agro.uba.ar/greenstone3/library/collection/arti/document/2023couso