Microbial evolution is typically studied in monocultures or in communities of competing species. But microbes do not always compete and how positive inter-species interactions drive evolution is less clear: Initially facilitative communities may either evolve increased mutualism, increased reliance on certain species according to the Black Queen Hypothesis (BQH), or weaker interactions and resource specialization. To distinguish between these outcomes, we evolved four species for 44 weeks either alone or together in a toxic pollutant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPredicting whether microbial invaders will colonize an environment is critical for managing natural and engineered ecosystems, and controlling infectious disease. Invaders often face competition by resident microbes. But how invasions play out in communities dominated by facilitative interactions is less clear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBacterial viruses, or phage, are key members of natural microbial communities. Yet much research on bacterial-phage interactions has been conducted in liquid cultures involving single bacterial strains. Here we explored how bacterial diversity affects the success of lytic phage in structured communities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCompetition between microbes is extremely common, with many investing in mechanisms to harm other strains and species. Yet positive interactions between species have also been documented. What makes species help or harm each other is currently unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Increasing antibiotic resistance warrants therapeutic alternatives. Here we investigated the efficacy of bacteriophage-therapy (phage) alone or combined with antibiotics against experimental endocarditis (EE) due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an archetype of difficult-to-treat infection.
Methods: In vitro fibrin clots and rats with aortic EE were treated with an antipseudomonas phage cocktail alone or combined with ciprofloxacin.