Interaction between Raphidiopsis raciborskii and rare bacterial species revealed by dilution-to-extinction experiments

Interactions between heterotrophic bacteria and cyanobacteria regulate the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems and are thus crucial for the prediction and management of cyanobacterial blooms in relation to water security. Currently, abundant bacterial species are of primary concern, while the role of more diverse and copious rare species remains largely unknown. Using a dilution-to-extinction approach, rare bacterial species from reservoir water were co-cultured with the bloom-forming cyanobacterium Raphidiopsis raciborskii in the lab to explore their interactions by using Phyto-PAM and 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing. We found that a ≤1000-fold bacterial dilution led to bacteria control of the growth and photosynthesis of R. raciborskii. Moreover, the bacterial community compositions in the low-dilution groups were clearly diverged from the high-dilution groups. Importantly, rare species changed dramatically in the low-dilution groups, resulting in lower phylogenetic diversity and narrower niche width. The network complexity and compositional stability of bacterial communities decreased in the low-dilution groups. Collectively, our results suggest that rare bacterial species inhibit R. raciborskii growth and photosynthesis through microbial interactions mediated by species coexistence and interaction mechanisms. Our study provides new knowledge of the ecological role of rare bacteria and offers new perspectives for understanding the outbreak and regression of R. raciborskii blooms.