Biology subjects

Mitchell, J. G.

Publications and source records attributed to Mitchell, J. G..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2021

Synergy of turbulence and fishing reduce aquatic biomass

A universal scaling relationship exists between organism abundance and body size1,2. Within ocean habitats this relationship deviates from that generally observed in terrestrial systems2-4, where marine macro-fauna display steeper size-abundance scaling than expected. This is indicative of a fundamental shift in food-web organization, yet a conclusive mechanism for this pattern has remained elusive. We demonstrate that while fishing has partially contributed to the reduced abundance of larger organisms, a larger effect comes from ocean turbulence: the energetic cost of movement within a turbulent environment induces additional biomass losses among the nekton. These results identify turbulence as a novel mechanism governing the marine size-abundance distribution, highlighting the complex interplay of biophysical forces that must be considered alongside anthropogenic impacts in processes governing marine ecosystems.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Universal allometry from empirical parameters

Allometric settings of population dynamics models are appealing due to their parsimonious nature and broad utility when studying system level effects. Here, we parameterise the size-scaled Rosenzweig-Macarthur ODEs to eliminate prey-mass dependency. We define the functional response term to match experiments, and examine situations where metabolic theory derivations and observation diverge. We produce dynamics consistent with observation. Our parameterisation of the Rosenzweig-Macarthur system is an accurate minimal model across 15+ orders of mass magnitude.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

QTL mapping: an innovative method for investigating the genetic determinism of yeast-bacteria interactions in wine

The two most commonly used wine microorganisms, Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast and Oenococcus oeni bacteria, are responsible for completion of alcoholic and malolactic fermentation (MLF), respectively. For successful co-inoculation, S. cerevisiae and O. oeni must be able to complete fermentation, however, this relies on compatibility between yeast and bacterial strains. For the first time, Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) analysis was used to elucidate whether S. cerevisiae genetic makeup can play a role in the ability of O. oeni to complete MLF. Assessment of 67 progeny of an S. cerevisiae SBxGN cross, co-inoculated with a single O. oeni strain, SB3, revealed a major QTL linked to MLF completion by O. oeni. This QTL encompassed a well-known translocation, XV-t-XVI, that results in increased SSU1 expression and is functionally linked with numerous phenotypes including lag phase duration and sulfite export and production. A reciprocal hemizygosity assay was performed to elucidate the effect of the gene SSU1 in the SBxGN background. Our results instead revealed a strong effect of SSU1 haploinsufficiency on O. oenis ability to complete malolactic fermentation during co-inoculation, and paves the way for the implementation of QTL mapping projects for deciphering the genetic bases of microbial interactions. Key pointsFor the first time QTL analysis has been used to study yeast-bacteria interactions. A QTL encompassing a translocation, XV-t-XVI, was linked to MLF outcomes. S. cerevisiae SSU1 haploinsufficiency positively impacted MLF by O. oeni.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2020

Shifts in evolutionary balance of microbial phenotypes under environmental changes

Environmental conditions shape entire communities by driving microbial interactions. These interactions then find their reflection in the evolutionary outcome of microbial competition. In static, homogeneous environments a robust, or evolutionary stable, outcome in microbial communities is reachable, if it exists. However, introducing heterogeneity and time-dependence in microbial ecology leads to stochastic evolutionary outcomes determined by specific environmental changes. We utilise evolutionary game theory to provide insight into phenotypic competition in dynamic environments. We capture these effects in a perturbed evolutionary game describing microbial interactions at a phenotypic level. We show that under regular periodic environmental fluctuations a stable state that preserves dominant phenotypes is reached. However, rapid environmental shifts, especially in a cyclic interactions, can lead to critical shifts in the evolutionary balance among phenotypes. Our analysis suggests that an understanding of the robustness of the systems current state is necessary to understand when system will shift to the new equilibrium. This can be done by understanding the systems overall margin of safety, that is, what level of perturbations it can take before its equilibrium changes. In particular, the extent to which an environmental shift affects the systems behaviour.

microbiology↗