Work

Exploring the microbial savanna: predator-prey interactions in the soil

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Soils host complex multi-trophic communities with diverse, mostly microbial, predator and prey species, including numerous bacterivorous protists and bacterial prey. The molecular mechanisms underlying microbial predator-prey interactions have thus far mainly been explored using reductionist methods, outside the soil environment and independent from the broader life history strategies that microbes display in soils. In this Comment, we advocate for an integrative research approach, combining molecular systems biology and microbial ecology, to investigate how predator-prey interactions shape microbial life history strategies and thereby population dynamics in natural soil communities.

Source: Molecular Systems Biology

DOI: 10.1038/s44320-024-00033-w

Authors: Laura Sanchis Pla, Jordi van Gestel

Institutions: European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Molecular Biology Laboratory

Language: English

Topic: Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology

Subfield: Ecology

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Life on land

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $6,890