Multifactorial diversity sustains microbial community stability.

ISME J

1] Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands [2] NIZO food research BV, Ede, The Netherlands [3] Top Institute Food and Nutrition (TIFN), Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Published: November 2013

Maintenance of a high degree of biodiversity in homogeneous environments is poorly understood. A complex cheese starter culture with a long history of use was characterized as a model system to study simple microbial communities. Eight distinct genetic lineages were identified, encompassing two species: Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides. The genetic lineages were found to be collections of strains with variable plasmid content and phage sensitivities. Kill-the-winner hypothesis explaining the suppression of the fittest strains by density-dependent phage predation was operational at the strain level. This prevents the eradication of entire genetic lineages from the community during propagation regimes (back-slopping), stabilizing the genetic heterogeneity in the starter culture against environmental uncertainty.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3806261PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2013.108DOI Listing

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