Diverse phage communities are maintained stably on a clonal bacterial host

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Pyenson, Nora C.; Leeks, Asher; Nweke, Odera; Goldford, Joshua E.; Schluter, Jonas; Turner, Paul E.; Foster, Kevin R.; Sanchez, Alvaro
• 署名单位: Yale University; Yale University; California Institute of Technology; Yale University; Yale University; University of Oxford; University of Oxford; University of Oxford; Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC); University of Salamanca
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-12186
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adk1183
• 发表日期: 2024-12-01
• 页码: 1294-1300
• 关键词: single-cell; crispr-cas; bacteriophages; coexistence; ecology; viruses; virome; GROWTH; AGE

摘要

Bacteriophages are the most abundant and phylogenetically diverse biological entities on Earth, yet the ecological mechanisms that sustain this extraordinary diversity remain unclear. In this study, we discovered that phage diversity consistently outstripped the diversity of their bacterial hosts under simple experimental conditions. We assembled and passaged dozens of diverse phage communities on a single, nonevolving strain of Escherichia coli until the phage communities reached equilibrium. In all cases, we found that two or more phage species coexisted stably, despite competition for a single, clonal host population. Phage coexistence was supported through host phenotypic heterogeneity, whereby bacterial cells adopting different growth phenotypes served as niches for different phage species. Our experiments reveal that a rich community ecology of bacteriophages can emerge on a single bacterial host.