[bioundgrd] FW: MIT Microbiome Club - Seminar Series - April 5th, 3 pm

Tue Apr 3 10:26:36 EDT 2018

From: Chelsea Catania <cataniac at mit.edu>
Date: Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 10:20 AM
Subject: MIT Microbiome Club - Seminar Series - April 5th, 3 pm

MIT Microbiome Club
Seminar Series
[cid:DE188664-4E8D-43E8-AA08-7505B7991C01 at broadinstitute.org]
Microbial Community
Community Talks

The MIT Microbiome Club will be hosting 3 speakers from our community for 3 short talks related to microbial community dynamics.
Thursday, April 5th from 3–4:30 pm in MIT 56-614

PLEASE RSVP ON OUR EVENT PAGE<https://www.facebook.com/events/1302787619852983/>

Dr. Arolyn Conwill:
The enemy of my enemy is my friend: how bacteria compete and cooperate to survive in a multidrug environment

Cooperation between microbes can enable microbial communities to survive in harsh environments. Enzymatic deactivation of antibiotics, a common mechanism of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, is a cooperative behavior that can allow resistant cells to protect sensitive cells from antibiotics. Understanding how bacterial populations survive antibiotic exposure is important both clinically and ecologically, yet the implications of cooperative antibiotic deactivation on the population and evolutionary dynamics remain poorly understood, particularly in the presence of more than one antibiotic. Here, we show that two Escherichia coli strains can form an effective cross-protection mutualism, protecting each other in the presence of two antibiotics (ampicillin and chloramphenicol) so that the co-culture can survive in antibiotic concentrations that inhibit growth of either strain alone. Moreover, we find that daily dilutions of the co-culture lead to large oscillations in the relative abundance of the two strains, with the ratio of abundances varying by nearly four orders of magnitude over the course of the three-day period of the oscillation. At modest antibiotic concentrations, the mutualistic behavior enables long-term survival of the oscillating populations; however, at higher antibiotic concentrations, the oscillations destabilize the population, eventually leading to collapse. The two strains form a successful cross-protection mutualism without a period of co-evolution, suggesting that similar mutualisms may arise during antibiotic treatment and in natural environments such as the soil.

Dr. Simon Lax:
Temperature modulates competitive outcomes in microbial microcosms

Temperature plays a cardinal role in shaping microbial growth rates, yet little work has been done to determine how changes in temperature can structure microbial communities or influence competitive outcomes between species. I will discuss the relationship between temperature and growth rate in bacteria, and present evidence in both theory and practice that changes in temperature can alter competitive outcomes between species in generic ways that may provide broad insights into microbial competition.

Dr. Daniel R. Amor:
The fate of microbial invaders in multi-stable laboratory ecosystems

Microbial communities are frequently challenged by the arrival of new species that could spread in the community, potentially leading to long-term shifts in community state. This argues for a deeper understanding of how invasions can interfere with the dynamics of microbial communities. I will focus on a bistable model system to study the dynamics between alternative stable states in microbial ecosystems. By introducing an invading species into the system, we observed that the invading species can induce transitions between these alternative stable states. Interestingly, in many cases the invading species did not survive in the final community state, making these species what we call a “transient invader.” This suggests that short-term invasions (such as infections) could be a common mechanism driving transitions between stable states in microbial communities.
Learn more on the event page.<https://www.facebook.com/events/1302787619852983/>

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The MIT Microbiome Club, part of the Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics, brings together inquisitive MIT undergrads, grad researchers, postdocs, faculty, and clinicians in the emerging field of microbiome studies and microbiome-based medicine. Learn more on our Facebook page<https://www.facebook.com/MITmicrobiomeclub/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel>. Or follow us on Twitter<https://twitter.com/MITubiomeclub>.
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Chelsea Catania, Ph.D.
MIT Microbiome Club Communications Chair
Postdoctoral Associate
Laboratory for Energy and Microsystems Innovation
Department of Mechanical Engineering
@MITubiomeclub<https://twitter.com/MITubiomeclub>

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