Evolution, Conflict and Cooperation in Mixed-species Bacterial Communities

杂交物种进化、冲突与合作细菌communitiesLauren a得克萨斯MeyersUniversity AustinEvolutionary理论说了很多关于单一物种的进化和演变的两个物种生活在冲突或彼此和谐。然而，生态系统是由许多物种组成的，它们以不同的方式相互竞争和合作。这些相互作用可能是由许多不同的原因造成的，例如对自然要素或其他物种的保护，或对有限资源的使用或生产。相互作用可能是不规则的——依赖于环境、不对称或不可传递。例如，只有当一个物种首先在特定环境中定居时，它才可能在资源方面胜过另一个物种；或者一个物种可能促进另一个物种的生长，第二个物种可能促进第三个物种的生长，但第三个物种与第一个物种存在对抗关系。该项目结合了两种互补的进化研究方法——细菌的实验进化和生态与进化动力学的数学建模——来研究多物种群落的进化。使用四种可以在实验室中共存的细菌，我们将描述它们的生态相互作用；建立这些相互作用的数学模型，以此来预测它们的进化动态；最后，通过在实验室中由一个、两个或四个物种组成的进化群落来验证我们的预测。这项工作代表了实验进化的一个新方向，它将提供对群落内生态动态进化的洞察，并将我们的范围扩展到仅仅两个物种的相互作用之外。这个项目的一个重要的更广泛的影响将是培养研究生在数学和生物科学的界面。

Evolution, conflict and cooperation in mixed-species bacterial communitiesLauren A. MeyersUniversity of Texas at AustinEvolutionary theory has much to say about the evolution of single species and about the evolution of two species living in conflict or harmony with each other. Ecosystems, however, consist of many species that compete and cooperate with each other in diverse ways. These interactions may result from a number of different causes, such as protection from the elements or other species, or the use or production of limited resources. The interactions may be irregular - dependent on the environment, asymmetric, or non-transitive. For example one species may out-compete another for resources only when it is the first to colonize a particular environment; or one species may facilitate the growth of another, the second may facilitate the growth of a third, but the third have an antagonistic relationship with the first. This project brings together two complementary approaches to evolutionary research - experimental evolution of bacteria and mathematical modeling of ecological and evolutionary dynamics - to investigate the evolution of multi-species communities. Using four bacterial species that can coexist in the laboratory, we will characterize their ecological interactions; build mathematical models of these interactions with which we will predict their evolutionary dynamics; and finally test our predictions by evolving communities consisting of one, two or four species in the laboratory. This work represents a novel direction in experimental evolution, one that will provide insight into the evolution of ecological dynamics within a community, and extend our purview beyond the interactions of just two species. An important broader impact of this project will be the training of graduate students at the interface of the mathematical and biological sciences.