In Living Color: Pigment-Based Microbial Ecology At the Mineral-Air Interface

Overview

Journal Bioscience

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialties Biology
Reproductive Medicine

Date 2022 Dec 1

PMID 36451971

Authors

Federica Villa

Ying-Li Wu

Andrea Zerboni

Francesca Cappitelli

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Pigment-based color is one of the most important phenotypic traits of biofilms at the mineral-air interface (subaerial biofilms, SABs), because it reflects the physiology of the microbial community. Because color is the hallmark of all SABs, we argue that pigment-based color could convey the mechanisms that drive microbial adaptation and coexistence across different terrestrial environments and link phenotypic traits to community fitness and ecological dynamics. Within this framework, we present the most relevant microbial pigments at the mineral-air interface and discuss some of the evolutionary landscapes that necessitate pigments as adaptive strategies for resource allocation and survivability. We report several pigment features that reflect SAB communities' structure and function, as well as pigment ecology in the context of microbial life-history strategies and coexistence theory. Finally, we conclude the study of pigment-based ecology by presenting its potential application and some of the key challenges in the research.

Citing Articles

More than a colour; how pigment influences colourblind microbes.

Wessel G, Xing L, Oulhen N Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2024; 379(1901):20230077.

PMID: 38497266 PMC: 10945406. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0077.

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