A longitudinal analysis of microbial community assembly dynamics reveals that communities cultured in metabolically complex media are more different from each other than those cultured in simpler media. Using consumer-resource model simulations, the authors demonstrate that the breakdown of complex metabolites by specialist taxa may promote cross-feeding between community members and allow for the assembly of more diverse communities.
- Michael R. Silverstein
- Jennifer M. Bhatnagar
- Daniel Segrè