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Updated: Apr 28, 2026

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Metabolic inequality in microbial communities.

Emmi A Mueller1, Jay T Lennon1

  • 1Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.

Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|April 27, 2026
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Microbial metabolic activity is unevenly distributed, with a few cells dominating community output across diverse ecosystems. This metabolic inequality significantly impacts ecosystem processes and requires accounting for accurate biogeochemical predictions.

Keywords:
ecologymetabolic theoryphenotypic heterogeneityproductivityscaling

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Area of Science:

  • Microbial Ecology
  • Ecosystem Science
  • Biogeochemistry

Background:

  • Metabolic activity distribution among individuals shapes biological organization.
  • Mechanisms generating metabolic heterogeneity in microbial communities are poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To quantify single-cell metabolism in diverse microbial communities.
  • To determine the distribution patterns of metabolic activity.
  • To model the impact of metabolic inequality on community respiration.

Main Methods:

  • Quantification of single-cell metabolism across aquatic, terrestrial, and host-associated microbial communities.
  • Analysis of over one million cells to identify metabolic activity distributions.
  • Development of a model linking single-cell activity to community respiration.

Main Results:

  • Metabolic activity consistently follows a lognormal distribution across diverse ecosystems.
  • A small subset of microbial cells disproportionately contributes to community metabolism.
  • Metabolic inequality is less pronounced in more productive environments.
  • Ignoring metabolic heterogeneity can bias community respiration estimates by up to 60%.

Conclusions:

  • A general pattern of metabolic inequality exists in microbial communities across disparate habitats.
  • Accounting for metabolic structure is crucial for understanding microbial impacts on ecosystem processes.
  • Accurate predictions of biogeochemical dynamics require incorporating metabolic heterogeneity.