Why resource dynamics matter in the optimization of microbial communities

Abstract

The impact of resource supply on microbial community dynamics is rarely treated explicitly in research into the control and optimization of natural and synthetic microbial communities. Using simulations, we show that compositional overlap between microbial communities decays rapidly with a change in the frequency of resource pulsing, particularly in the presence of a metabolic trade-off in resource affinity and maximum growth rate. We conclude that resource supply dynamics should be considered both a constraint and a tuning mechanism in microbial community optimization.