![]() ![]() ![]() However, to our knowledge, it remains largely unexplored how predation by generalist bacterial predators shapes the genomic and phenotypic evolution of coevolving predator–prey communities, as well as the evolution of interaction networks within complex microbial communities. Previous evolution experiments have shown that prey evolution can be influenced by predation from protists 26, specialized bacterial predators 27 and phage 28, and that the spatial distribution of prey can determine how bacterial predatory behaviors evolve 29. Bacteriophages are obligate parasites (also often referred to as predators) that inject their genetic material into host cells via attachment to specific cell-surface molecules and often have narrow host ranges 25. The more specialized bacterial predator Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus consumes Gram-negative prey by using pili to invade the periplasm and subsequently feed internally on prey–cell contents before causing lysis and the release of predator offspring 24. For example, myxobacteria such as Myxococcus xanthus are present across a broad range of microbial habitats 20 and consume a wide diversity of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes 21– 23. Bacterial predators have evolved both generalist and more specialized mechanisms of predation 18, 19. Protists consume a phylogenetically broad range of bacteria by ingesting whole cells 16, with some being highly selective of prey cell size 17. In turn, such increased variation of the biotic environment over time is expected to accelerate the pace of adaptive evolution 13– 15 relative to evolution in the absence of interaction.Īlthough predation is most often associated with animals, the microbial world is also rife with highly diverse predators. Sufficiently long periods of repeated interaction between predator and prey lineages can lead to Red Queen coevolution, in which cycles of reciprocal selection alter the biotic selective environment of both parties over time 10– 13. Predation shapes communities and ecosystems in many ways, including by contributing to resource turnover 1, 2, driving the abundance and diversity of prey species 3, 4, inducing the evolution of novel predatory 5 and prey-defense traits 6– 8 and indirectly altering interactions of prey with non-predatory species 3, 9. Our results suggest that generalist predatory bacteria are important determinants of how complex microbial communities and their interaction networks evolve in natural habitats. ![]() Strong parallel evolution unique to the predator-prey communities occurs in both parties, with predators driving adaptation at two prey traits associated with virulence in bacterial pathogens-mucoidy and the outer-membrane protease OmpT. We show evidence of reciprocal adaptation and demonstrate accelerated genomic evolution specific to coevolving communities, including the rapid appearance of mutator genotypes. Here we report how predator-prey interactions alter the evolution of fitness, genomes and phenotypic diversity in coevolving bacterial communities composed of Myxococcus xanthus as predator and Escherichia coli as prey, relative to single-species controls. Generalist bacterial predators are likely to strongly shape many important ecological and evolutionary features of microbial communities, for example by altering the character and pace of molecular evolution, but investigations of such effects are scarce. ![]()
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