Prophages in Lactobacillus reuteri Are Associated with Fitness Trade-Offs but Can Increase Competitiveness in the Gut Ecosystem

• Jee-Hwan Oh ^[1] ; Xiaoxi B. Lin ^[2] ; Shenwei Zhang ^[1] ; Stephanie L. Tollenaar ^[2] ; Mustafa Özçam ^[1] ; Case Dunphy ^[1] ; Jens Walter ^[2] ; Jan-Peter van Pijkeren ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Wisconsin–Madison

     University of Wisconsin–Madison

     City of Madison, Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] University of Alberta

     University of Alberta

     Canadá

     
• Localización: Applied and Environmental Microbiology, ISSN 0099-2240, Vol. 86, Nº 1, 2020
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Bacteriophages derived from lysogens are abundant in gut microbiomes. Currently, mechanistic knowledge is lacking on the ecological ramifications of prophage carriage yet is essential to explain the abundance of lysogens in the gut. An extensive screen of the bacterial gut symbiont Lactobacillus reuteri revealed that biologically active prophages are widely distributed in this species. L. reuteri 6475 produces phages throughout the mouse intestinal tract, but phage production is associated with reduced fitness of the lysogen. However, phage production provides a competitive advantage in direct competition with a nonlysogenic strain of L. reuteri that is sensitive to these phages. This combination of increased competition with a fitness trade-off provides a potential explanation for the domination of lysogens in gut ecosystem and how lysogens can coexist with sensitive hosts.