TY - JOUR
T1 - The Small-Molecule Language of Dynamic Microbial Interactions
AU - Zhang, Yifan
AU - Gallant, Étienne
AU - Park, Jong Duk
AU - Seyedsayamdost, Mohammad R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by Annual Reviews.All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/9/8
Y1 - 2022/9/8
N2 - Although microbes are routinely grown in monocultures in the laboratory, they are almost never encountered as single species in the wild. Our ability to detect and identify new microorganisms has advanced significantly in recent years, but our understanding of the mechanisms that mediate microbial interactions has lagged behind. What makes this task more challenging is that microbial alliances can be dynamic, consisting of multiple phases. The transitions between phases, and the interactions in general, are often mediated by a chemical language consisting of small molecules, also referred to as secondary metabolites or natural products. In this microbial lexicon, the molecules are like words and through their effects on recipient cells they convey meaning. The current review highlights three dynamic microbial interactions in which some of the words and their meanings have been characterized, especially those that mediate transitions in selected multiphasic associations. These systems provide insights into the principles that govern microbial symbioses and a playbook for interrogating similar associations in diverse ecological niches.
AB - Although microbes are routinely grown in monocultures in the laboratory, they are almost never encountered as single species in the wild. Our ability to detect and identify new microorganisms has advanced significantly in recent years, but our understanding of the mechanisms that mediate microbial interactions has lagged behind. What makes this task more challenging is that microbial alliances can be dynamic, consisting of multiple phases. The transitions between phases, and the interactions in general, are often mediated by a chemical language consisting of small molecules, also referred to as secondary metabolites or natural products. In this microbial lexicon, the molecules are like words and through their effects on recipient cells they convey meaning. The current review highlights three dynamic microbial interactions in which some of the words and their meanings have been characterized, especially those that mediate transitions in selected multiphasic associations. These systems provide insights into the principles that govern microbial symbioses and a playbook for interrogating similar associations in diverse ecological niches.
KW - Symbiosis
KW - antibiotics
KW - interspecies interactions
KW - natural product
KW - secondary metabolite
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138125721&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85138125721&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1146/annurev-micro-042722-091052
DO - 10.1146/annurev-micro-042722-091052
M3 - Review article
C2 - 35679616
AN - SCOPUS:85138125721
SN - 0066-4227
VL - 76
SP - 641
EP - 660
JO - Annual Review of Microbiology
JF - Annual Review of Microbiology
ER -