Upscaling of fungal-bacterial interactions: from the lab to the field

TY - JOUR

T1 - Upscaling of fungal-bacterial interactions: from the lab to the field

AU - De Boer, W.

N1 - 6270, ME; Data Archiving: no data

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - Fungal–bacterial interactions (FBI) are an integral component of microbial community networks in terrestrial ecosystems. During the last decade, the attention for FBI has increased tremendously. For a wide variety of FBI, information has become available on the mechanisms and functional responses. Yet, most studies have focused on pairwise interactions under controlled conditions. The question to what extent such studies are relevant to assess the importance of FBI for functioning of natural microbial communities in real ecosystems remains largely unanswered. Here, the information obtained by studying a type of FBI, namely antagonistic interactions between bacteria and plant pathogenic fungi, is discussed for different levels of community complexity. Based on this, general recommendations are given to integrate pairwise and ecosystem FBI studies. This approach could lead to the development of novel strategies to steer terrestrial ecosystem functioning.

AB - Fungal–bacterial interactions (FBI) are an integral component of microbial community networks in terrestrial ecosystems. During the last decade, the attention for FBI has increased tremendously. For a wide variety of FBI, information has become available on the mechanisms and functional responses. Yet, most studies have focused on pairwise interactions under controlled conditions. The question to what extent such studies are relevant to assess the importance of FBI for functioning of natural microbial communities in real ecosystems remains largely unanswered. Here, the information obtained by studying a type of FBI, namely antagonistic interactions between bacteria and plant pathogenic fungi, is discussed for different levels of community complexity. Based on this, general recommendations are given to integrate pairwise and ecosystem FBI studies. This approach could lead to the development of novel strategies to steer terrestrial ecosystem functioning.

KW - NIOO

U2 - 10.1016/j.mib.2017.03.007

DO - 10.1016/j.mib.2017.03.007

M3 - Article

SN - 1369-5274

VL - 37

SP - 35

EP - 41

JO - Current Opinion in Microbiology

JF - Current Opinion in Microbiology

ER -