Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41767253›Full record

ArticleiScience2026

Limits to the evolution of metabolic dependency in spatially structured microbial communities.

Divvya Ramesh, Emanuele Fara, Franziska Oschmann, Giovanni Stefano Ugolini, Roman Stocker, Simon van Vliet, Martin Ackermann, Olga T Schubert

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in iScience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Divvya RameshDepartment of Environmental Microbiology, Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Emanuele FaraDepartment of Environmental Microbiology, Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Franziska OschmannScientific IT Services, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Giovanni Stefano UgoliniInstitute of Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Roman StockerInstitute of Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Simon van VlietBiozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Martin AckermannDepartment of Environmental Microbiology, Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Olga T SchubertDepartment of Environmental Microbiology, Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In microbial communities, evolutionary processes can lead to loss of biosynthetic pathways, creating metabolic dependencies. The Black Queen Hypothesis suggests that such gene loss can confer a fitness advantage by reducing metabolic burden. However, how these dependencies evolve at the level of individual cells in spatially structured communities remains poorly understood. We used a combination of microfluidic single-cell imaging and mathematical modeling to examine the early fate of auxotrophic mutants within

Indexed as

Cell biologyEvolutionary biologyMicrobiologySystems biology

Identifiers

PMID41767253
PMCPMC12936941

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.