Metabolites limiting predator growth wane with prey biodiversity
成果类型：
Article
署名作者：
Li, Gen; Liu, Ting; Xie, Wangliang; Liu, Zhenzhen; Li, Huixin; Whalen, Joann K.; Jousset, Alexandre; Wei, Zhong
署名单位：
Nanjing Agricultural University; McGill University; Mohammed VI Polytechnic University
刊物名称：
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
ISSN/ISSBN：
0027-10395
DOI：
10.1073/pnas.2410210121
发表日期：
2024-12-24
关键词：
body-size
caenorhabditis-elegans
secondary metabolites
interaction strength
natural-products
bacteria
diversity
STABILITY
nematodes
FRAMEWORK
摘要：
Predator-prey interactions are a major driver of microbiome dynamics, but remain difficult to predict. While several prey traits potentially impact resistance to predation, their effects in a multispecies context remain unclear. Here, we leverage synthetic bacterial communities of varying complexity to identify traits driving palatability for nematodes, a main consumer of bacteria in soil. We assessed trophic interactions between four nematode species and 122 bacterial isolates, across a gradient of prey biodiversity ranging from single species to 50 species. Nematode size, a proxy for prey palatability, varied strongly with prey community composition and could be predicted by metabolic and morphological properties of the prey. However, the influence of prey traits on predators depended on biodiversity. Secondary metabolites drove palatability in monoculture, but this effect vanished under increasing prey biodiversity, where prey size became the dominant predictors of nematode size. Although idiosyncratic properties are often emphasized in the literatures, our results suggest that in biodiverse assemblages, the composition of available prey and their traits are more reliable predictors of predator-prey interactions. This study offers valuable insights into microbial ecology in the context of predator-prey interactions, as cryptic microbial responses can be guided by deductions based on generalizable biological traits.