TY - JOUR
T1 - A multi-scale eco-evolutionary model of cooperation reveals how microbial adaptation influences soil decomposition
AU - Abs, Elsa
AU - Leman, Hélène
AU - Ferrière, Régis
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Steven Allison, Rachel Gallery, Pierre-Henri Gouyon, Moira Hough, Laura Meredith, Mitch Pavao-Zuckerman and Scott Saleska for discussion. E.A. was supported by fellowships from Ecole Doctorale Frontières du Vivant and MemoLife Laboratory of Excellence (PIA-10-LBX-54). H.L. acknowledges support from CON-ACyT-MEXICO, CONACYT grant CB2015-01/250590, the foundation Sofía Kova-levskaia of SMM and the Chair "Modélisation Mathématique et Biodiversité" of VEOLIA-Ecole Polytechnique-MNHN-F.X. R.F. acknowledges support from FACE Partner University Fund, CNRS Mission pour les Initiatives Transverses et Inter-disciplinaires (MITI), PSL University (IRIS OCAV and PSL University of Arizona Mobility Program), and a grant from the Dimensions of Biodiversity program of the United States National Science Foundation (DEB-1831493).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - The decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) is a critical process in global terrestrial ecosystems. SOM decomposition is driven by micro-organisms that cooperate by secreting costly extracellular (exo-)enzymes. This raises a fundamental puzzle: the stability of microbial decomposition in spite of its evolutionary vulnerability to “cheaters”—mutant strains that reap the benefits of cooperation while paying a lower cost. Resolving this puzzle requires a multi-scale eco-evolutionary model that captures the spatio-temporal dynamics of molecule-molecule, molecule-cell, and cell-cell interactions. The analysis of such a model reveals local extinctions, microbial dispersal, and limited soil diffusivity as key factors of the evolutionary stability of microbial decomposition. At the scale of whole-ecosystem function, soil diffusivity influences the evolution of exo-enzyme production, which feeds back to the average SOM decomposition rate and stock. Microbial adaptive evolution may thus be an important factor in the response of soil carbon fluxes to global environmental change.
AB - The decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) is a critical process in global terrestrial ecosystems. SOM decomposition is driven by micro-organisms that cooperate by secreting costly extracellular (exo-)enzymes. This raises a fundamental puzzle: the stability of microbial decomposition in spite of its evolutionary vulnerability to “cheaters”—mutant strains that reap the benefits of cooperation while paying a lower cost. Resolving this puzzle requires a multi-scale eco-evolutionary model that captures the spatio-temporal dynamics of molecule-molecule, molecule-cell, and cell-cell interactions. The analysis of such a model reveals local extinctions, microbial dispersal, and limited soil diffusivity as key factors of the evolutionary stability of microbial decomposition. At the scale of whole-ecosystem function, soil diffusivity influences the evolution of exo-enzyme production, which feeds back to the average SOM decomposition rate and stock. Microbial adaptive evolution may thus be an important factor in the response of soil carbon fluxes to global environmental change.
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U2 - 10.1038/s42003-020-01198-4
DO - 10.1038/s42003-020-01198-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 32958833
AN - SCOPUS:85091322352
SN - 2399-3642
VL - 3
JO - Communications Biology
JF - Communications Biology
IS - 1
M1 - 520
ER -