Emergence of alternative stable states in microbial communities undergoing horizontal gene transfer
Microbial communities living in the same environment often display alternative stable states, each characterized by a unique composition of species. Understanding the origin and determinants of microbiome multistability has broad implications in environments, human health, and microbiome engineering...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2025-03-01
|
| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/99593 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850025159107280896 |
|---|---|
| author | Juken Hong Wenzhi Xue Teng Wang |
| author_facet | Juken Hong Wenzhi Xue Teng Wang |
| author_sort | Juken Hong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Microbial communities living in the same environment often display alternative stable states, each characterized by a unique composition of species. Understanding the origin and determinants of microbiome multistability has broad implications in environments, human health, and microbiome engineering. However, despite its conceptual importance, how multistability emerges in complex communities remains largely unknown. Here, we focused on the role of horizontal gene transfer (HGT), one important aspect mostly overlooked in previous studies, on the stability landscape of microbial populations. Combining mathematical modeling and numerical simulations, we demonstrate that, when mobile genetic elements (MGEs) only affect bacterial growth rates, increasing HGT rate in general promotes multistability of complex microbiota. We further extend our analysis to scenarios where HGT changes interspecies interactions, microbial communities are subjected to strong environmental selections and microbes live in metacommunities consisting of multiple local habitats. We also discuss the role of different mechanisms, including interspecies interaction strength, the growth rate effects of MGEs, MGE epistasis and microbial death rates in shaping the multistability of microbial communities undergoing HGT. These results reveal how different dynamic processes collectively shape community multistability and diversity. Our results provide key insights for the predictive control and engineering of complex microbiota. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e1a115bbe0154ae7b7b23cbc62fd22f9 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj-art-e1a115bbe0154ae7b7b23cbc62fd22f92025-08-20T03:00:55ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2025-03-011310.7554/eLife.99593Emergence of alternative stable states in microbial communities undergoing horizontal gene transferJuken Hong0Wenzhi Xue1Teng Wang2https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5176-5095Key Laboratory of Quantitative Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, ChinaKey Laboratory of Quantitative Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, ChinaKey Laboratory of Quantitative Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, ChinaMicrobial communities living in the same environment often display alternative stable states, each characterized by a unique composition of species. Understanding the origin and determinants of microbiome multistability has broad implications in environments, human health, and microbiome engineering. However, despite its conceptual importance, how multistability emerges in complex communities remains largely unknown. Here, we focused on the role of horizontal gene transfer (HGT), one important aspect mostly overlooked in previous studies, on the stability landscape of microbial populations. Combining mathematical modeling and numerical simulations, we demonstrate that, when mobile genetic elements (MGEs) only affect bacterial growth rates, increasing HGT rate in general promotes multistability of complex microbiota. We further extend our analysis to scenarios where HGT changes interspecies interactions, microbial communities are subjected to strong environmental selections and microbes live in metacommunities consisting of multiple local habitats. We also discuss the role of different mechanisms, including interspecies interaction strength, the growth rate effects of MGEs, MGE epistasis and microbial death rates in shaping the multistability of microbial communities undergoing HGT. These results reveal how different dynamic processes collectively shape community multistability and diversity. Our results provide key insights for the predictive control and engineering of complex microbiota.https://elifesciences.org/articles/99593microbial communitymultistabilityhorizontal gene transferplasmidantiobiotic resistancemicrobial diversity |
| spellingShingle | Juken Hong Wenzhi Xue Teng Wang Emergence of alternative stable states in microbial communities undergoing horizontal gene transfer eLife microbial community multistability horizontal gene transfer plasmid antiobiotic resistance microbial diversity |
| title | Emergence of alternative stable states in microbial communities undergoing horizontal gene transfer |
| title_full | Emergence of alternative stable states in microbial communities undergoing horizontal gene transfer |
| title_fullStr | Emergence of alternative stable states in microbial communities undergoing horizontal gene transfer |
| title_full_unstemmed | Emergence of alternative stable states in microbial communities undergoing horizontal gene transfer |
| title_short | Emergence of alternative stable states in microbial communities undergoing horizontal gene transfer |
| title_sort | emergence of alternative stable states in microbial communities undergoing horizontal gene transfer |
| topic | microbial community multistability horizontal gene transfer plasmid antiobiotic resistance microbial diversity |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/99593 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jukenhong emergenceofalternativestablestatesinmicrobialcommunitiesundergoinghorizontalgenetransfer AT wenzhixue emergenceofalternativestablestatesinmicrobialcommunitiesundergoinghorizontalgenetransfer AT tengwang emergenceofalternativestablestatesinmicrobialcommunitiesundergoinghorizontalgenetransfer |