Ignoring social distancing: advances in understanding multi-species bacterial interactions

Abstract

Almost every ecosystem on this planet is teeming with microbial communities made of diverse bacterial species. At a reductionist view, many of these bacteria form pairwise interactions, but, as the field of view expands, the neighboring organisms and the abiotic environment can play a crucial role in shaping the interactions between species. Over the years, a strong foundation of knowledge has been built on isolated pairwise interactions between bacteria, but now the field is advancing toward understanding how cohabitating bacteria and natural surroundings affect these interactions. Use of bottom-up approaches, piecing communities together, and top-down approaches that deconstruct communities are providing insight on how different species interact. In this review, we highlight how studies are incorporating more complex communities, mimicking the natural environment, and recurring findings such as the importance of cooperation for stability in harsh environments and the impact of bacteria-induced environmental pH shifts. Additionally, we will discuss how omics are being used as a top-down approach to identify previously unknown interspecies bacterial interactions and the challenges of these types of studies for microbial ecology.

Shedding light on bacteria–host interactions with the aid of TnSeq approaches

“…Future TnSeq work to identify genes required for in vivo survival should consider that the selective forces in the host organism can also be influenced by host age, presence of chemical compounds, biotic and abiotic stresses, etc. ( 15 , 32 , 86 , 103 , 144 ). An important point to consider in the upcoming colonization studies is the fact that the host is often not colonized by a single strain but by a multispecies microbiome.…”

The Microbial Mechanisms of a Novel Photosensitive Material (Treated Rape Pollen) in Anti-Biofilm Process under Marine Environment

“…Virtually, we observed a higher percentage of positive relationships in the PL group, indicating that the mutual synergistic promotion of microorganisms was tight [ 45 , 46 ]. This phenomenon could be attributed to the selectivity resulting from extreme external pressure [ 47 ]. These results indicate that TRP can affect microbial network complexity and the development pattern of biofilms [ 48 ].…”

Interactions betweenPseudomonas aeruginosaand six opportunistic pathogens cover a broad spectrum from mutualism to antagonism

“…Studying pathogen interactions has become a prospering field (Dunny et al, 2008; Kramer et al, 2020; Michie et al, 2016; Ross and Whiteley, 2020; West et al, 2007a). Especially, interactions between key pathogens like P. aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus have been extensively studied as these species often co-occur in patients (Hotterbeekx et al, 2017; Ibberson and Whiteley, 2020; Limoli and Hoffman, 2019; Nguyen and Oglesby-Sherrouse, 2016).…”