Congrats, Conny!

Congratulations, Kyle! All the happiness to you both!

Just a clarification: I meant extracellular degradation of polysaccharides, not specifically of eps. Sorry about that.

Special thanks to all the co-autors: Christina Kaiser @christinakaiser.bsky.social, Moritz Mohrlok @moritzmohrlok.bsky.social, Lauren Alteio, Shaul Polak and Hannes Schmidt !

We reveal how substrate concentration and complexity shape microbial growth and interactions.
We also find data to support our model: we performed a systematic literature search, which shows that generalists (producing both enzymes) dominate among chitin-degrading microbes. 5/6

Finally, we explored whether microbes can divide labor in the production of these two enzymes within consortia.
Our analysis paints a fascinating picture: interactions between endo- and exo-enzyme producers can flip from positive to negative depending on substrate levels! 4/6

We have found that producers:

1. Of exo-enzymes thrive when many polymer chains are around.

2. Of endo-enzymes unexpectedly excel only when fewer chains are present.

3. Of both enzymes together expand their niche and may benefit from enzyme synergy. 3/6

We mainly focus on two enzyme types:

1. “Exo”-enzymes snip small units from the ends of polymer chains.

2. “Endo”-enzymes break polymers at random, creating varied-sized fragments.

Using a theoretical model, we simulated polymer degradation and microbial growth. 2/6