New technique shows protein changes in intact microbial communities
By looking at how microbial proteins are modified over time, scientists can begin to understand changes in the broader community. The protein changes, or post-translational modifications (PTMs), occur in response to a sensed environmental cue. These alterations create rippling signal cascades, often leading to pervasive changes in the organism's growth and behavior. Although scientists have studied this regulatory mechanism extensively in individual organisms, its role at the scale of a complex community remains poorly understood. Now, thanks to a new technique developed by a collaborative team of researchers in California and Tennessee, scientists can analyze proteins collected from an intact microbial community, gaining insights into how the broader system works.