Nutrient Availability Shifts the Biosynthetic Potential of Soil-Derived Microbial Communities

Secondary metabolites produced by microorganisms are the main source of antimicrobials and other pharmaceutical drugs. Soil microbes have been the primary discovery source for these secondary metabolites, often producing complex organic compounds with specific biological activities. Research suggests that secondary metabolism broadly shapes microbial ecological interactions, but little is known about the factors that shape the abundance, distribution, and diversity of biosynthetic gene clusters in the context of microbial communities. In this study, we investigate the role of nutrient availability on the abundance of biosynthetic gene clusters in soil-derived microbial consortia. Soil microbial consortia enriched in high sugar medium (150 mg/L of glucose and 200 mg/L of trehalose) had more biosynthetic gene clusters and higher inhibitory activity than those enriched in low sugar medium (15 mg/L of glucose + 20 mg/L of trehalose). Our results demonstrate that experimental microbial communities are a promising tool to study the ecology of specialized metabolites.