IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v12y2021i1d10.1038_s41467-021-22240-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Single strain control of microbial consortia

Author

Listed:
  • Alex J. H. Fedorec

    (University College London)

  • Behzad D. Karkaria

    (University College London)

  • Michael Sulu

    (University College London)

  • Chris P. Barnes

    (University College London
    University College London)

Abstract

The scope of bioengineering is expanding from the creation of single strains to the design of microbial communities, allowing for division-of-labour, specialised sub-populations and interaction with “wild” microbiomes. However, in the absence of stabilising interactions, competition between microbes inevitably leads to the removal of less fit community members over time. Here, we leverage amensalism and competitive exclusion to stabilise a two-strain community by engineering a strain of Escherichia coli which secretes a toxin in response to competition. We show experimentally and mathematically that such a system can produce stable populations with a composition that is tunable by easily controllable parameters. This system creates a tunable, stable two-strain consortia while only requiring the engineering of a single strain.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex J. H. Fedorec & Behzad D. Karkaria & Michael Sulu & Chris P. Barnes, 2021. "Single strain control of microbial consortia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-22240-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22240-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22240-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-021-22240-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Poudel, Niranjan & Singleton, Patrick A., 2022. "Preferences for roundabout attributes among US bicyclists: A discrete choice experiment," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 316-329.
    2. María José Viana Cleves & Gerardo Barbosa Castillo & Andrés Rolando Ciro Gómez & Édgar Solano González, 2022. "Líneas estructurales para la Fuerza Pública: medioambiente e inteligencia militar," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 1330, htpr_v3_i.
    3. John P. Marken & Richard M. Murray, 2023. "Addressable and adaptable intercellular communication via DNA messaging," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Carlos Barajas & Hsin-Ho Huang & Jesse Gibson & Luis Sandoval & Domitilla Vecchio, 2022. "Feedforward growth rate control mitigates gene activation burden," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-22240-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.