Abstract
The natural habitats of microbes are typically spatially structured with limited resources, so opportunities for unconstrained, balanced growth are rare. In these habitats, selection should favor microbes that are able to use resources most efficiently, that is, microbes that produce the most progeny per unit of resource consumed. On the basis of this assertion, we propose that selection for efficiency is a primary driver of the composition of microbial communities. In this article, we review how the quality and quantity of resources influence the efficiency of heterotrophic growth. A conceptual model proposing innate differences in growth efficiency between oligotrophic and copiotrophic microbes is also provided. We conclude that elucidation of the mechanisms underlying efficient growth will enhance our understanding of the selective pressures shaping microbes and will improve our capacity to manage microbial communities effectively.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge Arvind Venkataraman, Byron Smith, Clive Waldron, Alex Schmidt and Zarraz Lee for valuable feedback throughout the writing process. This work was supported in part by the Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship Program (DOE SCGF), made possible in part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, administered by ORISE-ORAU under contract no. DE-AC05-06OR23100; the National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research Program through grant no. DEB 1027253 and the National Institutes of Health (GM0099549).
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Roller, B., Schmidt, T. The physiology and ecological implications of efficient growth. ISME J 9, 1481–1487 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2014.235
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2014.235
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