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Updated: May 22, 2025

Divergence of Root Microbiota in Different Habitats based on Weighted Correlation Networks

Divergence of Root Microbiota in Different Habitats based on Weighted Correlation Networks

Published on: September 25, 2021

Cross-feeding creates tipping points in microbiome diversity.

Tom Clegg^1,2, Thilo Gross^1,2,3

¹Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg 26129, Germany.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|May 6, 2025

Summary

Microbial communities rely on cross-feeding networks for diversity. Network structure changes can cause collapses, impacting microbial diversity and culturing efforts.

Keywords:

complex networks microbial ecology percolation theory tipping points

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Guided Protocol for Fecal Microbial Characterization by 16S rRNA-Amplicon Sequencing

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Published on: March 19, 2018

Area of Science:

Microbial Ecology
Network Science
Systems Biology

Background:

Microbial communities exhibit extraordinary diversity, shaped by interactions between functionally distinct populations.
Cross-feeding networks, where organisms consume by-products from others, are crucial for structuring these systems.
Understanding the complex interdependencies within cross-feeding networks is a major challenge in microbial ecology.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a structural microbial community model using network science to understand cross-feeding dynamics.
To identify feasible community states and tipping points in cross-feeding network structures.
To investigate the impact of network structure on microbial community diversity and robustness.

Main Methods:

Utilized network science and percolation theory to model microbial community structure.
Identified feasible community states based on metabolite production and consumption within networks.
Analyzed tipping points where structural changes lead to network collapse and diversity decline.

Main Results:

Identified critical tipping points in cross-feeding networks, where small structural changes cause catastrophic collapse.
Demonstrated that network structure dictates microbial community diversity and robustness.
Showed that the difficulty in culturing diverse microbial communities is an inherent property of their cross-feeding networks.

Conclusions:

Cross-feeding network structure fundamentally shapes microbial community diversity and stability.
Network collapse and diversity decline can occur abruptly at critical tipping points.
The inherent properties of cross-feeding networks explain challenges in culturing microbial diversity.