Bacterial community assembly based on functional genes rather than species

The principles underlying the assembly and structure of complex microbial communities are an issue of long-standing concern to the field of microbial ecology. We previously analyzed the community membership of bacterial communities associated with the green macroalga Ulva australis, and proposed a competitive lottery model for colonization of the algal surface in an attempt to explain the surprising lack of similarity in species composition across different algal samples. Here we extend the previous study by investigating the link between community structure and function in these communities, using metagenomic sequence analysis. Despite the high phylogenetic variability in microbial species composition on…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: DE-FG02-, FG02-02ER63453, DE-FG02
• GA
  Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
• OO
  Office of Science
• AR
  Australian Research Council
• BA
  Biological and Environmental Research