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Nutrient Availability Shifts the Biosynthetic Potential of Soil-Derived Microbial Communities

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Abstract

Secondary metabolites produced by microorganisms are the main source of antimicrobials and other pharmaceutical drugs. Soil microbes have been the primary discovery source for these secondary metabolites, often producing complex organic compounds with specific biological activities. Research suggests that secondary metabolism broadly shapes microbial ecological interactions, but little is known about the factors that shape the abundance, distribution, and diversity of biosynthetic gene clusters in the context of microbial communities. In this study, we investigate the role of nutrient availability on the abundance of biosynthetic gene clusters in soil-derived microbial consortia. Soil microbial consortia enriched in high sugar medium (150 mg/L of glucose and 200 mg/L of trehalose) had more biosynthetic gene clusters and higher inhibitory activity than those enriched in low sugar medium (15 mg/L of glucose + 20 mg/L of trehalose). Our results demonstrate that experimental microbial communities are a promising tool to study the ecology of specialized metabolites.

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Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or nonprofit sectors. Support for M.G.C. was provided by grant 2020-67012-31772 (Accession 1022881) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53715, USA

    Marc G. Chevrette

  2. Department of Biology, Texas State University, 601 University Drive, San Marcos, TX, 78666, USA

    Bradley W. Himes & Camila Carlos-Shanley

Authors
  1. Marc G. Chevrette
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  2. Bradley W. Himes
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  3. Camila Carlos-Shanley
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Contributions

CC-S and BH designed the experiments. BH performed the experiments. MGC and CC-S performed bioinformatic and statistical analyses. MGC, BH, and CC-S wrote and reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Camila Carlos-Shanley.

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Chevrette, M.G., Himes, B.W. & Carlos-Shanley, C. Nutrient Availability Shifts the Biosynthetic Potential of Soil-Derived Microbial Communities. Curr Microbiol 79, 64 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-021-02746-9

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