Biosystems Analysis for Determining the Impact of Nutrient Uptake on Autotroph-Heterotroph Interactions within Cyanobacterial Consortia
EMSL Project ID
48873
Abstract
The exchange of carbon and other nutrients between microorganisms is a key factor in the establishment of microbial interactions and trophic levels. Depending upon the nutrient, the establishment of interactions can be seen as the coupling between producer and consumer. The ability to determine this coupling has traditionally been very difficult within microbial systems. However, the use of EMSL capabilities can aid in this determination. For this Biosystems Dynamics and Design proposal we request the use of these capabilities to discover and compare the coupling between autotroph and heterotrophs within two unicyanobacterial consortium (UCC). Each has a unique cyanobacterium, but nearly identical heterotroph consorts. Yet, each UCC has distinct differences that may be explained by the flow of nutrients from producer to consumer and the degree of coupling between autotroph and heterotroph. An extreme example of direct coupling within a UCC would have all heterotrophs interacting directly with the cyanobacterium. In a less coupled UCC system, some heterotrophs would directly interact with the cyanobacterium, while others interact with each other. Thus, our specific aim is to better resolve the degree of direct and indirect coupling within each UCC and evaluate the effect of nutrients on this coupling. In general, this aim will lead to better understanding the network structure of microbial communities and how they are regulated, which is fundamental for designing artificial communities for biotechnology applications. Consortia of cyanobacteria and heterotrophs are ubiquitous planet wide and strongly impact global biogeochemical cycling. Due to their reduced complexity and laboratory tractability, simplified consortia such as these two UCCs are ideal biological systems for evaluating the roles of environmental variables and interspecies interactions in driving community dynamics.
Project Details
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2015-10-01
End Date
2017-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigator(s)
Team Members