Catch me if you can: dispersal and foraging ofBdellovibrio bacteriovorus109J along mycelia

Abstract

To cope with heterogeneous environments and resource distributions, filamentous fungi have evolved a spatially extensive growth enabling their hyphae to penetrate air-water interfaces and pass through air-filled pores. Such mycelia are also known to act as dispersal networks for the mobilisation of bacteria ('fungal highways') and connection of microbial microhabitats. Hitherto, however, nothing is known about the effect of mycelia-based dispersal on interactions between bacterial predators and their prey and concomitant effects on biomass formation. We here hypothesise that mycelia enable the contact between predators and their prey and shape a prey's population. We investigated the impact of predation by Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus 109J on the growth of its potential prey Pseudomonas fluorescens LP6a in the presence of mycelia. Our data give evidence that hyphae increase the accessibility of the prey to B. bacteriovorus 109J and, hence, allow for efficient foraging and shaping of prey populations not seen in the absence of mycelia. To test our hypothesis tailored microbial landscapes were used for better reduction of emerging properties in complex systems. Our data suggest that mycelia have substantial influence on prey-predator relationship and hereby may promote the structure of prey and predator populations and, hence, may be a determinant for biomass formation in heterogeneous environments.

Dispersal Modifies the Diversity and Composition of Active Bacterial Communities in Response to a Salinity Disturbance

“…These bacteria were rare and/or dormant in the initial marine inocula and in the marine communities at the end of the experiment without dispersal. The transition of this family from dormancy to active growth was most likely because dispersal substantially influenced prey-predator dynamics ( Otto et al, 2017 ).…”

Mycelial network-mediated rhizobial dispersal enhances legume nodulation

“…Mycelia are effective dispersal networks that contribute to the maintenance of bacterial ecological functions, such as bioremediation and predation [15][16][17]. Bradyrhizobial proliferation, which is also reported in other fungal-bacterial interactions [46,48].…”

“…Such mycelia are also known as an ideal channel for bacterial dispersal in structurally and chemically heterogeneous soil ecosystems. Indeed, it is found that specific bacteria can act as "hitchhikers" traveling along mycelial networks to new niches, where they play important ecological functions, such as bioremediation, foraging, biocontrol and nutrient cycling [15][16][17][18].…”

The antibiotic crisis: How bacterial predators can help

“…First, predators such as Bdellovibrio and Micavibrio have the ability to kill human Gram-negative pathogens such as Acinetobacter , Aeromonas , Bordetella , Burkholderia , Citrobacter , Enterobacter , Escherichia , Klebsiella , Listonella , Morganella , Proteus , Salmonella , Serratia , Shigella , Vibrio , Yersinia , Helicobacter pylori, and Legionella that have acquired, or are at risk of acquiring, resistance to antibiotics [86] , [90] , [91] , [92] , [93] , [94] , [95] . These predators also reduce the bacterial burden of drug-resistant members of the ESKAPE group such as K. pneumoniae , A. baumannii [86] , [96] , [97] , [98] or P. aeruginosa [99] , Stenotrophomonas maltophilia [100] and other MDRB Gram-negative clinical pathogens such as Shigella [101] .…”