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Updated: Aug 19, 2025
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Investigating Bacterial-Fungal Interactions using Fungal Highway Columns in Diverse Environments and Substrates
Published on: January 24, 2025
342
Fungal hyphae regulate bacterial diversity and plasmid-mediated functional novelty during range expansion
Chujin Ruan1, Josep Ramoneda2, Guram Gogia3
1College of Land Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, 100193 Beijing, China; Department of Environmental Microbiology, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Current Biology : CB
|December 1, 2022
Summary
Fungal hyphae promote bacterial diversity during range expansion by enhancing dispersal and intermixing. This mechanism counteracts purifying processes, supporting bacterial adaptation and the spread of antibiotic resistance genes.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Ecology
- Mycology
Background:
- Bacterial communities exhibit vast diversity on surfaces.
- Maintaining this diversity during spatial expansion (range expansion) despite purifying processes is poorly understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of fungal hyphae in regulating bacterial diversity during range expansion.
- To provide mechanistic evidence for fungal hyphae-mediated dispersal.
Main Methods:
- Co-expansion experiments using fluorescently labeled bacterial strains and a hyphae-forming fungal strain on a nutrient-amended surface.
- Observation of bacterial dispersal patterns along the fungal hyphal network.
- Assessment of the impact on bacterial intermixing and range expansion extent.
Main Results:
- Fungal hyphae significantly increased spatial intermixing and the extent of bacterial range expansion.
- Bacterial flagellar motility along the hyphal network counteracted ecological drift at the expansion frontier.
- Hyphae-mediated intermixing enhanced the spread of plasmid-encoded antibiotic resistance via conjugation.
Conclusions:
- Fungal hyphae are crucial regulators of bacterial diversity during range expansion.
- Hyphae-mediated dispersal promotes functional novelty through plasmid transfer, independent of bacterial interactions.
- This highlights a novel mechanism for microbial community assembly and adaptation.
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