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Ecological effects of cellular computing in microbial populations

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Abstract

Gene regulatory networks allow single cells to adopt a wide range of different phenotypes in response to changes in environmental conditions. The ecological implications of these cellular computations are poorly understood, and they are largely absent from models of microbial community assembly. Here, we highlight a number of examples where ecological interactions are or may be affected by cellular computations. Our review identifies specific opportunities for integrating cellular decision-making into mathematical models of microbe-microbe interactions and community assembly. We argue that incorporating cellular decision-making into microbial ecology will be critical in order to gain a quantitative understanding of microbial biogeography.

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Author notes

  1. Maia Baskerville, Arielle Biro, Mike Blazanin, Chang-Yu Chang, Amelia Hallworth, Nicole Sonnert and Jean Vila have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Program in Microbiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Maia Baskerville, Amelia Hallworth & Nicole Sonnert

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Arielle Biro, Mike Blazanin, Chang-Yu Chang, Jean C. C. Vila & Alvaro Sanchez

  3. Microbial Sciences Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Chang-Yu Chang, Jean C. C. Vila & Alvaro Sanchez

Authors
  1. Maia Baskerville
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  2. Arielle Biro
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  3. Mike Blazanin
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  4. Chang-Yu Chang
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  8. Alvaro Sanchez
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Correspondence to Alvaro Sanchez.

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Baskerville, M., Biro, A., Blazanin, M. et al. Ecological effects of cellular computing in microbial populations. Nat Comput 17, 811–822 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11047-018-9708-8

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