Ubiquitous bacterial polyketides induce cross-kingdom microbial interactions

Abstract

Although the interaction of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms is critical for the functioning of ecosystems, knowledge of the processes driving microbial interactions within communities is in its infancy. We previously reported that the soil bacterium Streptomyces iranensis specifically triggers the production of natural products in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans. Here, we discovered that arginine-derived polyketides serve as the bacterial signals for this induction. Arginine-derived polyketide-producing bacteria occur world wide. These producer bacteria and the fungi that decode and respond to this signal can be co-isolated from the same soil sample. Arginine-derived polyketides impact surrounding microorganisms both directly as well as indirectly, by inducing the production of natural products in fungi that further influence the composition of microbial consortia. One-Sentence SummaryUbiquitous bacterial polyketides are universal components of the chemical network for microbial communication