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- Title
In Living Color: Pigment-Based Microbial Ecology At the Mineral–Air Interface.
- Authors
Villa, Federica; Wu, Ying-Li; Zerboni, Andrea; Cappitelli, Francesca
- 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.
- Subjects
MICROBIAL ecology; LIFE history theory; BIOTIC communities; MICROBIAL physiology; BIOLOGICAL fitness; COEXISTENCE of species
- Publication
BioScience, 2022, Vol 72, Issue 12, p1156
- ISSN
0006-3568
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/biosci/biac091