Metabolic strategies of Marine Heterotrophs

Leonhard Lücken

Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment  (» Postal address)

Metabolic strategies of Marine Heterotrophs

A scheme of a microbial growth model, which incorporates different inhibitory regulations between available resources.
A scheme of a microbial growth model, which incorporates different inhibitory regulations between available resources. Source: own work (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Microbial species are endowed with a variety of metabolic capabilities to harvest different nutritional sources. For their evolutionary success, an optimal response to environmental conditions in terms of pathway expression and regulation is essential. Energy budgeting of organisms requires a concerted allocation of expenditures for maintenance, structural growth and build-up of reserves within a cell.

Two plots showing simulated and experimentally measured microbial growth curves and substrate depletion curves.
Two plots showing simulated and experimentally measured microbial growth curves and substrate depletion curves. The simulation model is parametrized with different regulatory mechanisms, one of which leads to a sequential consumption of substrates in the right plot. Source: own work (CC BY-SA 3.0), experimental data by Daniel Wünsch.

Our group pursues mathematical modelling and synthetic data-analysis of bacterial growth scenarios in environments of mixed substrate availability (collaboration with AG Rabus). Further, we are interested in optimal consumption strategies and regulatory mechanisms determining the behavior in complex environments, such as mixed and variable nutrient availability or interaction with symbotic or antagonistic agents.

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