The ecology and evolution of microbial competition

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State: Public
Version: Author's accepted manuscript
Serval ID
serval:BIB_69F365C52571
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Publication sub-type
Review (review): journal as complete as possible of one specific subject, written based on exhaustive analyses from published work.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
The ecology and evolution of microbial competition
Journal
Trends in Microbiology
Author(s)
Ghoul M., Mitri S.
ISSN
0966-842X
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2016
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
24
Number
10
Pages
833-845
Language
english
Abstract
Microbes are typically surrounded by different strains and species with whom they compete for scarce nutrients and limited space. Given such challenging living conditions, microbes have evolved many phenotypes with which they can outcompete and displace their neighbours: secretions to harvest resources, loss of costly genes whose products can be obtained from others, stabbing and poisoning neighbouring cells, or colonising spaces while preventing others from doing so. These competitive phenotypes appear to be common, although evidence suggests that, over time, competition dies down locally, often leading to stable coexistence of genetically distinct lineages. Nevertheless, the selective forces acting on competition and the resulting evolutionary fates of the different players depend on ecological conditions in a way that is not yet well understood. Here, we highlight open questions and theoretical predictions of the long-term dynamics of competition that remain to be tested. Establishing a clearer understanding of microbial competition will allow us to better predict the behaviour of microbes, and to control and manipulate microbial communities for industrial, environmental, and medical purposes.
Keywords
interference competition, exploitative competition, bacteria, communities, social evolution
Pubmed
Web of science
Create date
25/08/2016 12:59
Last modification date
20/08/2019 15:24
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