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Interference Competition Among Household Strains of Pseudomonas

Microbial Ecology volume 72, pages 821–830 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Bacterial species exhibit biogeographical patterns like those observed in larger organisms. The distribution of bacterial species is driven by environmental selection through abiotic and biotic factors as well dispersal limitations. We asked whether interference competition, a biotic factor, could explain variability in habitat use by Pseudomonas species in the human home. To answer this question, we screened almost 8000 directional, pairwise interactions between 89 Pseudomonas strains including members of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 29), Pseudomonas fluorescens (n = 21), and Pseudomonas putida (n = 39) species groups for the presence of killing. This diverse set of Pseudomonas strains includes those isolated from several different habitats within the home environment and includes combinations of strains that were isolated from different spatial scales. The use of this strain set not only allowed us to analyze the commonality and phylogenetic scale of interference competition within the genus Pseudomonas but also allowed us to investigate the influence of spatial scale on this trait. Overall, the probability of killing was found to decrease with increasing phylogenetic distance, making it unlikely that interference competition accounts for previously observed differential habitat use among Pseudomonas species and species groups. Strikingly, conspecific P. aeruginosa killing accounted for the vast majority of the observed killing, and this killing was found to differ across the habitat type and spatial scale of the strains’ isolation. These data suggest that interference competition likely plays a large role in the within-species dynamics of P. aeruginosa but not other household Pseudomonas species.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Thomas Hundley for insightful discussions and valuable assistance as well as the many undergraduate and graduate students that worked to collect and identify the strains used here. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. This work was supported by a National Science Foundation grant (DEB-0950361) and a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Supplement (DEB-1111122).

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 3051, Moscow, ID, 83844, USA

    Michael T. France

  2. Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 3051, Moscow, ID, 83844, USA

    Michael T. France

  3. Department of Biology, University of Louisville, 137 Life Sciences Building, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA

    Susanna K. Remold

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Correspondence to Michael T. France.

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France, M.T., Remold, S.K. Interference Competition Among Household Strains of Pseudomonas . Microb Ecol 72, 821–830 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-015-0652-1

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Keywords

  • Pyocin
  • Biogeography
  • Pseudomonas
  • Interference competition
  • Bacteriocin