An experimental model for the spatial structuring and selection of bacterial communities

Authors

Torsten Thomas, University of New South Wales
Ilona Kindinger, University of New South Wales
Dan Yu, University of New South Wales
Meera Esvaran, University of New South Wales
Linda L. Blackall, University of Queensland
Hugh I. Forehead, University of WollongongFollow
Craig R. Johnson, University of Tasmania
Michael J. Manefield, University of New South Wales

RIS ID

110361

Publication Details

Thomas, T., Kindinger, I., Yu, D., Esvaran, M., Blackall, L., Forehead, H., Johnson, C. R. & Manefield, M. (2011). An experimental model for the spatial structuring and selection of bacterial communities. Journal of Microbiological Methods, 87 (2), 165-168.

Abstract

Community-level selection is an important concept in evolutionary biology and has been predicted to arise in systems that are spatially structured. Here we develop an experimental model for spatially-structured bacterial communities based on coaggregating strains and test their relative fitness under a defined selection pressure. As selection we apply protozoan grazing in a defined, continuous culturing system. We demonstrate that a slow-growing bacterial strain Blastomonas natatoria 2.1, which forms coaggregates with Micrococcus luteus, can outcompete a fast-growing, closely related strain Blastomonas natatoria 2.8 under conditions of protozoan grazing. The competitive benefit provided by spatial structuring has implications for the evolution of natural bacterial communities in the environment.