Emergent phenotypic heterogeneity in synthetic cross-feeding consortia driven by heterogeneous metabolite distribution

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ID: 317099
2026
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Abstract
Abstract Cooperation is crucial for constructions of all levels of life. But cooperation is often vulnerable, and understanding the underlying causes remains a grand challenge in ecology and evolution. Here we, by constructing a synthetic cooperative system consisting of two genetically engineered Escherichia coli strains with metabolic cross-feeding, demonstrate that cross-feeding, though it promotes the growth, amplifies cell noise of both strain populations in the bacterial consortium. The emergent phenotypic heterogeneity, expressed as the induced increase in cell noise by cross-feeding, is attributed mainly to enhanced resource heterogeneity and subsequent variation in gene expression among cells within each population. We further show that the positive interaction (including mutualism, commensalism and/or exploitation) also induces phenotypic heterogeneity in distinct microbial consortia consisting of bacterial strains isolated from aquatic, soil or rhizospheric environments. Our results reveal a cooperation-induced trade-off between population fitness and homogeneity, highlighting the importance of stochasticity in understanding the evolution of cooperation in microbiomes in nature.
Reference Key
openalex_W7164487234 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Tianzheng Sun, Jing Xiao, Y ZHANG, Xijia Cao, Chenchao Xu, Kaihang Zhang, Shuyao Li, Lei Cheng
Journal national science review
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/nsr/nwag357
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwag357
Keywords Keywords not found

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