Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chae Won Kang, Hyun Gyu Lim, Jaehyuk Won, Sanghak Cha, Giyoung Shin, Jae-Seong Yang, Jaeyoung Sung, Gyoo Yeol Jung
Summary: In this study, the authors developed a synthetic adaptation strategy to improve the production of a microbial consortium. By introducing a genetic circuit in one of the strains, they were able to control the production of a specific compound and acclimate the consortium for higher production.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Review
Microbiology
Hulya Akdemir, Yuxin Liu, Lei Zhuang, Haoran Zhang, Mattheos A. G. Koffas
Summary: Utilization of microbial cocultures on mixed substrates provides new opportunities for controlling biosynthesis behavior and producing complex end products efficiently, advancing metabolic engineering in recent years.
CURRENT OPINION IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Microbiology
Ryan K. Fritts, Alexandra L. McCully, James B. McKinlay
Summary: The transfer of nutrients between cells, known as cross-feeding, is a crucial aspect of microbial communities that impacts health and global biogeochemical cycles. Externalized molecules play a diverse role in promoting cross-feeding relationships, which can be characterized by a mix of cooperation and competition. The interplay between microbial physiology, environmental factors, and extracellular molecules shape the dynamics of cross-feeding interactions.
MICROBIOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY REVIEWS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jeremy E. Schreier, Christa B. Smith, Thomas R. Ioerger, Mary Ann Moran
Summary: Bacteria in phycospheres contribute significantly to the metabolism of ocean primary productivity, but studying the interactions among species in these micron-scale environments is challenging. By culturing a transposon mutant library of copiotrophic bacterium Ruegeria pomeroyi DSS-3 with the diatom Thalassiosira pseu-donana CCMP1335, we identified genes that mediate bacterial interactions in phycosphere communities. These genes had significant effects on R. pomeroyi fitness, indicating explicit cell-cell interactions in the multibacterial phycospheres.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Review
Biochemical Research Methods
Razieh Rafieenia, Eliza Atkinson, Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro
Summary: This article reviews the importance of division of labor in natural microbial consortia and how it can be used to design synthetic consortia for efficient substrate utilization and bioproduction.
CURRENT OPINION IN BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Erin E. Kelly, Alexandria M. Fischer, Cynthia H. Collins
Summary: Synthetic microbial communities can benefit from cross-feeding interactions to promote growth and stability, as demonstrated by experiments on different culture conditions.
BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOENGINEERING
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Jessica A. Lee, Alyssa C. Baugh, Nicholas J. Shevalier, Brandi Strand, Sergey Stolyar, Christopher J. Marx
Summary: The research team developed a model microbial consortium for studying lignocellulose degradation with the specific goal of reducing formaldehyde production, by including various bacteria to simulate ecological dynamics and metabolite exchange. Experimental results suggest that this study lays the foundation for future eco-evolutionary research and optimization of biomass transformation efficiency.
Article
Microbiology
Benjamin J. Callahan, Dmitry Grinevich, Siddhartha Thakur, Michael A. Balamotis, Tuval Ben Yehezkel
Summary: LoopSeq is a commercially available synthetic long-read (SLR) sequencing technology that generates highly accurate long reads from standard short reads, enabling direct identification of microbial genes and species in complex samples. Compared to standard Illumina amplicon sequencing, LoopSeq offers an order-of-magnitude improvement in length and accuracy, allowing accurate identification of species and strains from complex to low-biomass microbiome samples.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Xianglai Li, Zhao Zhou, Wenna Li, Yajun Yan, Xiaolin Shen, Jia Wang, Xinxiao Sun, Qipeng Yuan
Summary: This study integrates a responsive biosensor into a microbial coculture system to achieve autonomous regulation of product ratios. By using multi-metabolite cross-feeding, a stable coculture system is established. The strategy introduced in this study is generally applicable and provides new possibilities for industrial applications of microbial cocultures.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Behzad D. Karkaria, Alex J. H. Fedorec, Chris P. Barnes
Summary: In naturally occurring microbial systems, there is a positive relationship between species diversity and community productivity; researchers performed model selection to discover potential amensal interactions that lead to robust stable synthetic microbial consortia.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Behzad D. Karkaria, Angelika Manhart, Alex J. H. Fedorec, Chris P. Barnes
Summary: This study developed a methodology to explore the potential for chaotic dynamics in small microbial communities and showed that chaotic states can exist in synthetic microbial systems. This has important implications for the fields of biotechnology, bioprocessing, and synthetic biology.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Giovanni Scarinci, Victor Sourjik
Summary: Mutualistic exchange of metabolites plays a crucial role in microbial communities. In turbulent aquatic environments, direct cell-cell adhesion and bacterial motility enhance cooperative interactions and stabilize metabolic communities.
Article
Polymer Science
Sirina Zhantlessova, Irina Savitskaya, Aida Kistaubayeva, Ludmila Ignatova, Aizhan Talipova, Alexander Pogrebnjak, Ilya Digel
Summary: Bacterial cellulose (BC), a biopolymer produced by different microorganisms, can be used as a matrix for the introduction of other polymers, resulting in composite materials with improved mechanical properties and prebiotic activity. This study demonstrated that the probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG showed better growth when stimulated by pullulan (PUL) compared to other microbial polysaccharides. By co-cultivating Komagataeibacter xylinus and Aureobasidium pullulans, BC/PUL biocomposites with prebiotic properties were successfully produced. The inclusion of PUL in BC was confirmed through gravimetric analysis and microscopic observation. The co-cultivation approach also led to enhanced fiber aggregation and binding, resulting in significant improvements in the mechanical properties of the composites.
Review
Microbiology
Victor Mataigne, Nathan Vannier, Philippe Vandenkoornhuyse, Stephane Hacquard
Summary: Understanding how microorganism-microorganism interactions shape microbial assemblages is crucial in deciphering the evolution of dependencies and co-existence in complex microbiomes. The microbial systems ecology (MSE) framework, relying on integrated-omics data, merges cellular and community scales to untangle microbial coexistence primarily by metabolic modeling. MSE offers new avenues for progress in microbial research, particularly in synthetic biology and microbiome engineering.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Biochemical Research Methods
Ipek Ergal, Guenther Bochmann, Werner Fuchs, Simon K-M R. Rittmann
Summary: The metabolic diversity of organisms in natural microbial ecosystems enables interaction and syntrophic interactions among community members. Artificial microbial consortium engineering is used in biotechnology to improve productivity and yields. However, to achieve supreme productivity or efficiency at industrial scale, defined ecosystems must be physiologically well-selected to meet eco-biotechnological demands.
CURRENT OPINION IN BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Ryan K. Fritts, Breah LaSarre, Ari M. Stoner, Amanda L. Posto, James B. McKinlay
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2017)
Article
Microbiology
Breah LaSarre, David T. Kysela, Barry D. Stein, Adrien Ducret, Yves V. Brun, James B. McKinlay
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Alexandra L. McCully, Megan G. Behringer, Jennifer R. Gliessman, Evgeny V. Pilipenko, Jeffrey L. Mazny, Michael Lynch, D. Allan Drummond, James B. McKinlay
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2018)
Article
Microbiology
Heidi S. Schindel, Jonathan A. Karty, James B. McKinlay, Carl E. Bauer
JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Sara E. Jones-Burrage, Timothy A. Kremer, James B. McKinley
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Alekhya Govindaraju, James B. McKinlay, Breah LaSarre
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Microbiology
Alexandra L. McCully, Maureen C. Onyeziri, Breah LaSarre, Jennifer R. Gliessman, James B. McKinlay
Article
Ecology
Ryan K. Fritts, Jordan T. Bird, Megan G. Behringer, Anna Lipzen, Joel Martin, Michael Lynch, James B. McKinlay
Editorial Material
Environmental Sciences
James B. McKinlay
ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY REPORTS
(2021)
Review
Microbiology
Ryan K. Fritts, Alexandra L. McCully, James B. McKinlay
Summary: The transfer of nutrients between cells, known as cross-feeding, is a crucial aspect of microbial communities that impacts health and global biogeochemical cycles. Externalized molecules play a diverse role in promoting cross-feeding relationships, which can be characterized by a mix of cooperation and competition. The interplay between microbial physiology, environmental factors, and extracellular molecules shape the dynamics of cross-feeding interactions.
MICROBIOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY REVIEWS
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Brittany E. E. Mazny, Olivia F. F. Sheff, Breah LaSarre, Anastasia McKinlay, James B. B. McKinlay
Summary: This article presents a new genome sequence for the derivative strain CGA0092 of Rhodopseudomonas palustris CGA009, which is a versatile model purple nonsulfur bacterium used for both fundamental and applied research.
MICROBIOLOGY RESOURCE ANNOUNCEMENTS
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Breah LaSarre, Ryan Morlen, Gina C. Neumann, Caroline S. Harwood, James B. McKinlay
Summary: Partial denitrifiers can still be regulated by denitrification intermediates that they cannot use.
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Amee A. Sangani, Alexandra L. McCully, Breah LaSarre, James B. McKinlay
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY LETTERS
(2019)
Article
Microbiology
Fredrick J. Lee, Kayla Miller, James B. McKinlay, Irene L. G. Newton
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY
(2018)