A shared limiting resource leads to competitive exclusion in a cross-feeding system

Abstract

Species interactions and coexistence are often highly dependent upon environmental conditions. This is especially true for cross-feeding bacteria that rely on one another for essential nutrients. The addition of a cross-fed nutrient to the environment can release one species from its dependence on another, thereby altering the species interaction and potentially affecting coexistence. Using invasion-from-rare experiments with cross-feeding bacteria, genome-scale metabolic modeling, and classical ecological models, we explored the potential for coexistence when one cross-feeding mutualist becomes independent. We show that whether nutrient addition shifts an interaction from mutualism to commensalism or parasitism depends on whether the limiting nutrient can be metabolized by only one species or by both species. Furthermore, we show that coexistence is only lost when the interaction becomes parasitism, and the obligate species has a slower maximum growth rate. Surprisingly, models suggest that rates of cross-fed nutrient production have a negligible effect. These results contribute to an understanding of how resource changes, whether intentional or not, will manipulate interactions and coexistence in microbial communities.