Global biogeography and local adaptation of Streptomyces

Abstract

Streptomyces play crucial roles in key ecosystem processes including nutrient and plant disease suppression in natural and agricultural systems. Moreover, Streptomyces are major producers of clinically relevant antibiotic compounds. Despite the importance of Streptomyces in natural, agricultural, and clinical settings, we have a limited understanding of Streptomyces ecology and evolutionary biology in natural habitats. Here we characterize the function diversity and biogeography of Streptomyces to shed light on the roles of local adaptation and coevolution in structuring soil Streptomyces communities. Specifically, this work focuses on patterns of antibiotic inhibition, antibiotic resistance, resource use, and phylogeny among sympatric and allopatric Streptomyces communities from across the globe. This work documents the extensive functional diversity of Streptomyces antibiotic inhibitory, resistance, and resource use phenotypes and provides strong evidence that local adaptation, coevolution, and resource competition are crucial drivers of antibiotic inhibition and resistance among Streptomyces.