Exploring interspecific interaction variability in microbiota: A review

Interspecific interactions are an important component and a strong selective force in microbial communities. Over the past few decades, there has been a growing awareness of the variability in microbial interactions, and various studies are already unraveling the inner working dynamics in microbial...

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Main Authors: Zhong Yu, Zhihao Gan, Ahmed Tawfik, Fangang Meng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Engineering Microbiology
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667370324000407
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author Zhong Yu
Zhihao Gan
Ahmed Tawfik
Fangang Meng
author_facet Zhong Yu
Zhihao Gan
Ahmed Tawfik
Fangang Meng
author_sort Zhong Yu
collection DOAJ
description Interspecific interactions are an important component and a strong selective force in microbial communities. Over the past few decades, there has been a growing awareness of the variability in microbial interactions, and various studies are already unraveling the inner working dynamics in microbial communities. This has prompted scientists to develop novel techniques for characterizing the varying interspecific interactions among microbes. Here, we review the precise definitions of pairwise and high-order interactions, summarize the key concepts related to interaction variability, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of emerging characterization techniques. Specifically, we found that most methods can accurately predict or provide direct information about microbial pairwise interactions. However, some of these methods inevitably mask the underlying high-order interactions in the microbial community. Making reasonable assumptions and choosing a characterization method to explore varying microbial interactions should allow us to better understand and engineer dynamic microbial systems.
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spelling doaj-art-213fd661f7824e55b32f9bf18e1a73642025-08-20T02:40:08ZengElsevierEngineering Microbiology2667-37032024-12-014410017810.1016/j.engmic.2024.100178Exploring interspecific interaction variability in microbiota: A reviewZhong Yu0Zhihao Gan1Ahmed Tawfik2Fangang Meng3School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, ChinaSchool of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, ChinaNational Research Centre, Water Pollution Research Department, Dokki, Giza 12622, Egypt; Department of Environmental Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 5969, Safat 13060, KuwaitSchool of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China; Corresponding author.Interspecific interactions are an important component and a strong selective force in microbial communities. Over the past few decades, there has been a growing awareness of the variability in microbial interactions, and various studies are already unraveling the inner working dynamics in microbial communities. This has prompted scientists to develop novel techniques for characterizing the varying interspecific interactions among microbes. Here, we review the precise definitions of pairwise and high-order interactions, summarize the key concepts related to interaction variability, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of emerging characterization techniques. Specifically, we found that most methods can accurately predict or provide direct information about microbial pairwise interactions. However, some of these methods inevitably mask the underlying high-order interactions in the microbial community. Making reasonable assumptions and choosing a characterization method to explore varying microbial interactions should allow us to better understand and engineer dynamic microbial systems.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667370324000407Microbial communityInterspecific interactionInteraction variabilityVariability mechanismInteraction characterization
spellingShingle Zhong Yu
Zhihao Gan
Ahmed Tawfik
Fangang Meng
Exploring interspecific interaction variability in microbiota: A review
Engineering Microbiology
Microbial community
Interspecific interaction
Interaction variability
Variability mechanism
Interaction characterization
title Exploring interspecific interaction variability in microbiota: A review
title_full Exploring interspecific interaction variability in microbiota: A review
title_fullStr Exploring interspecific interaction variability in microbiota: A review
title_full_unstemmed Exploring interspecific interaction variability in microbiota: A review
title_short Exploring interspecific interaction variability in microbiota: A review
title_sort exploring interspecific interaction variability in microbiota a review
topic Microbial community
Interspecific interaction
Interaction variability
Variability mechanism
Interaction characterization
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667370324000407
work_keys_str_mv AT zhongyu exploringinterspecificinteractionvariabilityinmicrobiotaareview
AT zhihaogan exploringinterspecificinteractionvariabilityinmicrobiotaareview
AT ahmedtawfik exploringinterspecificinteractionvariabilityinmicrobiotaareview
AT fangangmeng exploringinterspecificinteractionvariabilityinmicrobiotaareview