Local adaptation of a bacterium is as important as its presence in structuring a natural microbial community

Gomez, P, Paterson, S ORCID: 0000-0002-1307-2981, De Meester, L, Liu, X, Lenzi, L ORCID: 0000-0003-2697-691X, Sharma, MD, McElroy, K and Buckling, A (2016) Local adaptation of a bacterium is as important as its presence in structuring a natural microbial community. Nature Communications, 7 (1). 12453-.

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Official URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12453

Abstract

Local adaptation of a species can affect community composition, yet the importance of local adaptation compared with species presence per se is unknown. Here we determine how a compost bacterial community exposed to elevated temperature changes over 2 months as a result of the presence of a focal bacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25, that had been pre-adapted or not to the compost for 48 days. The effect of local adaptation on community composition is as great as the effect of species presence per se, with these results robust to the presence of an additional strong selection pressure: an SBW25-specific virus. These findings suggest that evolution occurring over ecological time scales can be a key driver of the structure of natural microbial communities, particularly in situations where some species have an evolutionary head start following large perturbations, such as exposure to antibiotics or crop planting and harvesting.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Pseudomonas fluorescens, Biodiversity, Adaptation, Physiological, Genetic Fitness, Composting
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	10 Aug 2016 07:18
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 07:32
DOI:	10.1038/ncomms12453
Open Access URL:	http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160809/ncomms124...
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3002840