Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2023 APS March Meeting
Volume 68, Number 3
Las Vegas, Nevada (March 5-10)
Virtual (March 20-22); Time Zone: Pacific Time
Session K08: Ecological Dynamics III
3:00 PM–6:00 PM,
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Room: Room 131
Sponsoring
Unit:
DBIO
Chair: Antun Skanata, Syracuse University
Abstract: K08.00001 : The structure-function problem in microbial communities*
3:00 PM–3:36 PM
Presenter:
Seppe Kuehn
(University of Chicago)
Author:
Seppe Kuehn
(University of Chicago)
In this talk, I will present our recent work on this ‘structure-function problem’ in communities. Using denitrification, a key part of the nitrogen cycle, as a model process we showed that the dynamic flux of metabolites through a community can be predicted simply from knowledge of the genes each strain possesses. Thus, the details of which species are present is not necessary to predict function, and instead genotypes and resulting phenotypes fully determine metabolite flows. We affirm this finding independently in very complex communities that exhibit self-sustaining nutrient cycles. I will present recent work extending these insights into understanding the structure and function of natural communities in soils, and the problem of designing communities with specific functional properties.
*National Science Foundation MCB 2117477National Science Foundation EF 2025293National Science Foundation MCB 1921439James S. McDonnell Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship Award 220020499
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