But they can also include ones that were unable to gain a foothold previously and are now able to thrive thanks to the destruction of competing microbes".
In our hands, we failed in an estimated 20% of cases in isolation of mycelia from fruiting body tissues, mostly due to overgrowth by other competing microbes, especially by filamentous Ascomycetes or sometimes also by Mucoromycotina (unpublished data).
Moreover, other pathways discovered in P.didemni are predicted to synthesize compounds active against possible competing microbes, such as the products of pyr and nkd.
Although the function of such putative novel pathways cannot currently be predicted with certainty, it is possible that they function as toxins active against host plants, competing microbes, or insect vectors [43].
From these results we propose that, in the phenolic-rich rhizosphere, such a detrimental effect of secreted MelC2 is directed toward other competing microbes that lack an intracellular defense system such as melD.
Interactions between Prochlorococcus, phages that infect them, their protozoan predators, and competing microbes, are all likely influenced by diel cycling, as well as other environmental factors which may in turn influence their responses to the oscillating energy input.
We propose that the conserved melD operon is involved in defense against phenolics produced by plants, and the sporadically present melC operon probably plays an aggressive role in converting the phenolics to the more permeable quinones, thus fending off less tolerant competing microbes (lacking melD) in the phenolic-rich rhizosphere.
These cells have adapted to withstand host defense and the competing microbes on mucosal surfaces.
Evolved external defense against competing microbes, like defenses against parasites, can be divided into two conceptually different strategies [ 28].
