Catch me if you can

Bruni, E. P., Harms, H., Otto, S., & Wick, L. Y. (2017). Catch me if you can. The ISME Journal, (2017), Heft 11. https://doi.org/10.60810/openumwelt-1208

Zusammenfassung englisch

To cope with heterogeneous environments and resource distributions, filamentous fungi have evolved a spatially extensive growth enabling their hyphae to penetrate airŃwater interfaces and pass through air-filled pores. Such mycelia are also known to act as dispersal networks for the mobilisation of bacteria (ĺfungal highways̷) and connection of microbial microhabitats. Hitherto, however, nothing is known about the effect of mycelia-based dispersal on interactions between bacterial predators and their prey and concomitant effects on biomass formation. We here hypothesise that mycelia enable the contact between predators and their prey and shape a prey̷s population. We investigated the impact of predation by Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus 109J on the growth of its potential prey Pseudomonas fluorescens LP6a in the presence of mycelia. Our data give evidence that hyphae increase the accessibility of the prey to B. bacteriovorus 109J and, hence, allow for efficient foraging and shaping of prey populations not seen in the absence of mycelia. To test our hypothesis tailored microbial landscapes were used for better reduction of emerging properties in complex systems. Our data suggest that mycelia have substantial influence on preyŃpredator relationship and hereby may promote the structure of prey and predator populations and, hence, may be a determinant for biomass formation in heterogeneous environments. Quelle: https://www.nature.com/