Fig. 4: Emergent metabolic strategies differ in their energy metabolism.
a Heatmap showing the frequency of 59 metabolic genes (columns) in 60 evolved communities (rows) at the end of the simulation. Cross-feeding communities (dark blue label) and single-lineage autonomous communities (in mustard) cluster mostly together, but no single gene is associated with either metabolic strategy. Instead, the topology of the evolved metabolic network determines community strategy. b Examples of metabolic networks with different topologies. Topology is determined by the substrate of the energy reaction (resource or building block), and networks with the same topology may differ in the specific reaction used to produce energy and other reactions. All communities that degrade resource R for energy follow the cross-feeding strategy (light blue), while in contrast all autonomous communities degrade building block B1 or B2 for energy (yellow). 15 out of 60 communities switched strategy during the evolutionary simulation (marked with letter "S" in a) in most cases because a mutant with the opposing network topology invaded and replaced the resident population. Some communities are formed by microbes with hybrid metabolic networks that degrade both resource and building block for energy (indicated in green) and can switch strategy without changing network topology.
