Dynamic resource allocation constraints affects coexistence in microbial communities

What is it about?

When growing in complex communities, bacteria need to decide how to allocate their internal resources to different functions. Here, we use known phenomenological laws that link bacterial growth rates with their internal resource allocation strategies to write a model of bacterial communities where competition for common resources is the only interaction between species. We study our model analytically and numerically to determine the conditions that allow the coexistence of many species, beyond the limits usually imposed by the so-called "Competitive Exclusion Principle"

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Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This is the first formulation of a consumer-resource model that is based on experimetally validated empirical laws on microbial growth. This also makes this model more easily applicable to experiment, since every parameter and variables in this model has a precise meaning and can be measured. This model also shows a very simple mechanism that allows multiple species to coexist in a purely competitive community beyond the Competitive Exclusion Principle.