Degradation of extracellular polymeric substances shapes microbial community diversity

Sammy Pontrelli; Kian Bigovic Villi; Andreas Sichert; Julian Trouillon; Adriano Rutz; Zachary C. Landry; Simon H. Rüdisser; Roman Stocker; Uwe Sauer

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3003287

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Degradation of extracellular polymeric substances shapes microbial community diversity

Sammy Pontrelli ,

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – original draft

* E-mail: sammy.pontrelli@kuleuven.be

Affiliations Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology, Leuven, Belgium

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6265-8842

⨯
Kian Bigovic Villi,

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis

Affiliation Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
⨯
Andreas Sichert,

Roles Data curation

Affiliation Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
⨯
Julian Trouillon,

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis

Affiliation Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
⨯
Adriano Rutz,

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis

Affiliation Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0443-9902

⨯
Zachary C. Landry,

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis

Affiliations Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland, Department of Marine and Environmental Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
⨯
Simon H. Rüdisser,

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis

Affiliation Department of Biology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1107-6196

⨯
Roman Stocker,

Roles Supervision, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
⨯
Uwe Sauer

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
⨯

Degradation of extracellular polymeric substances shapes microbial community diversity

Sammy Pontrelli,
Kian Bigovic Villi,
Andreas Sichert,
Julian Trouillon,
Adriano Rutz,
Zachary C. Landry,
Simon H. Rüdisser,
Roman Stocker,
Uwe Sauer

Published: July 29, 2025
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003287
See the preprint

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Exopolysaccharides
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Chitin
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Community structure
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