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Review
. 2019 Nov;13(11):2656-2663.
doi: 10.1038/s41396-019-0469-x. Epub 2019 Jul 9.

Microbe-driven chemical ecology: past, present and future

Ruth Schmidt  1   2 , Dana Ulanova  3   4 , Lukas Y Wick  5 , Helge B Bode  6 , Paolina Garbeva  7
Affiliations
Review

Microbe-driven chemical ecology: past, present and future

Ruth Schmidt et al. ISME J. 2019 Nov.

Abstract

In recent years, research in the field of Microbial Ecology has revealed the tremendous diversity and complexity of microbial communities across different ecosystems. Microbes play a major role in ecosystem functioning and contribute to the health and fitness of higher organisms. Scientists are now facing many technological and methodological challenges in analyzing these complex natural microbial communities. The advances in analytical and omics techniques have shown that microbial communities are largely shaped by chemical interaction networks mediated by specialized (water-soluble and volatile) metabolites. However, studies concerning microbial chemical interactions need to consider biotic and abiotic factors on multidimensional levels, which require the development of new tools and approaches mimicking natural microbial habitats. In this review, we describe environmental factors affecting the production and transport of specialized metabolites. We evaluate their ecological functions and discuss approaches to address future challenges in microbial chemical ecology (MCE). We aim to emphasize that future developments in the field of MCE will need to include holistic studies involving organisms at all levels and to consider mechanisms underlying the interactions between viruses, micro-, and macro-organisms in their natural environments.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Patterns of microbial communication across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Cues—provide unintentional information; signals—provide intentional information and chemical weapons/antimicrobial—are produced targeted
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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