Teppo Hiltunen

17 Sept

Happy that our article found a nice outlet in ISME J @isme-microbes.bsky.social. Advance article now available at: academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

2 June

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.comDiscovering data‐driven microbial growth models with symbolic regressionReader environment loaded

pnas.orgEvolution induced state shifts in a long-term microbial community experiment | PNASBiological communities are complex, dynamic systems that underpin ecosystem functionality, yet their long-term dynamics and predictability remain p...

28 May

Evolution induced state shifts in a long-term microbial community experiment (now out, but previously posted here as a preprint) with Ville Mustonen, Lutz Becks @jcairns.bsky.social & others. Experiment continues @utu.fi and now 5+ years www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

28 May

And most importantly, work led by Mikko Kivikoski!

30 Apr

New results from our synthetic communities, antibiotics & resilience project: Eco-evolutionary dynamics and environmental detoxification jointly shape bacterial community response to antibiotic perturbation www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Work led by @jcairns.bsky.social

biorxiv.orgbiorxiv.org

academic.oup.comUniversal bacterial clade dynamics dominate under predation despite altered phenotypes and mutation targetsAbstract. Recent studies have revealed bacterial genome-wide evolution to be complex and dynamic even in a constant environment, characterized by the emerg

9 Apr

Results from a long term bacteria - ciliate experiment: academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

Teppo Hiltunen reposted

biorxiv.orgEcological tristability driven by total carbon availability over resource complexity in a synthetic microbial communityEven though complex microbial communities are ubiquitous and provide essential services for natural and human-associated ecosystems, our knowledge about their assembly and dynamics is incomplete. There is an ongoing debate whether the behavior of complex communities can be predicted from the outcome of pairwise competition of species, and whether communities reach alternative stable states depending on the level and complexity of resource provided for growth. To estimate the effect of two resource gradients, total carbon availability and resource complexity, on the compositional dynamics of a complex microbial community, we conducted a 16-day serial passage experiment, transferring a 16-species synthetic community in 96 different resource environments. We observed that although both resource dimensions influenced community composition, total carbon exerted a considerably larger effect. Additionally, we saw the emergence of a tristable pattern along the total carbon gradient, a feature not observed for the resource complexity gradient. Using monoculture assays, we identified lag phase duration as the dominant predictor of competitive success at carbon extremes, with maximum growth rate increasing in importance as lag times converged. Total carbon availability thus structured community state transitions and regulated which growth trait governed competitive sorting. These results suggest the importance of total carbon level over resource complexity and identifying dominant species for the quest to successfully manage, maintain and manipulate complex microbial communities. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Swiss National Science Foundation, https://ror.org/00yjd3n13, P500PB_214345 Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, KAW 2024.0159 Jenny ja Antti Wihurin Rahasto, 00250005 Finnish Cultural Foundation, 85241664 Research Council of Finland, 346126, 364232

28 Feb

We serially transferred a 16-species synthetic community for 16 days across total carbon and resource complexity gradients. Result? Three reproducible compositional states along the carbon axis. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @teppo-h.bsky.social

researchsquare.comEnvironmental heterogeneity determines evolutionary pathways to species coexistenceA cornerstone of biology is that species interactions drive evolution of niche divergence, thereby maintaining biodiversity. Yet controlled experiments consistently find evolution of competitive-abili...

3 Dec 2025

Cool preprint from Lutz Becks lab www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-8...

25 Nov 2025

We are organising an AMR meeting next spring in Helsinki. Meeting includes evolution of AMR and environmental AMR sessions. Please submit your abstract now! Deadline Dec 1st.

biorxiv.orgNormative assembly rule reveals fairness in microbial communitiesUnderstanding and predicting how communities assemble is a paramount challenge in ecology. Here we address these questions normatively by comparing the ecological distribution of growth surplus to a g...

12 Nov 2025

Normative assembly rule reveals fairness in microbial communities www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

duunitori.fiProfessor or Associate professor (Tenure Track/Full) in Microbial Genetics of Health - Turun yliopisto - Työpaikat - DuunitoriAvoin työpaikka: Professor or Associate professor (Tenure Track/Full) in Microbial Genetics of Health - Turun yliopisto, Turku. Duunitorilla lisäksi yli 30 000 muuta avointa työpaikkaa. Lue lisää nyt!

30 Sept 2025

Professor (full) or Associate Professor (tenure track) in Microbial Genetics of Health (U. Turku Finland). Competitive starting package included! Please share. duunitori.fi/tyopaikat/ty...

23 Oct 2025

On week until application deadline!

Teppo Hiltunen reposted

biorxiv.orgEvolution induced state shifts in a long-term microbial community experimentBiological communities are complex, dynamic systems that underpin ecosystem functionality, yet their long-term dynamics and predictability remain poorly understood. Understanding how Darwinian evoluti...

11 Oct 2025

Massive undertaking with @teppo-h.bsky.social and others out. We studied 4 years (!!!) of synthetic 23 microbial species community evolution with/without antibiotic. Resistance mutations occurring over years led to stepwise restructuring and ultimately recovery of undisturbed community composition.

Teppo Hiltunen@teppo-h.bsky.social

Evolution induced state shifts in a long-term microbial community experiment www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

11 Oct 2025

Evolution induced state shifts in a long-term microbial community experiment www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

9 Oct 2025

AMR meeting in Helsinki. March 4th-6th 2026 Please join us!

ats.talentadore.comProfessor or Assistant / Associate (tenure track) Professor in Plant EcologyThe Faculty of Science is looking for a full professor or assistant/associate professor (tenure track) in Plant Ecology. The aim of the professorship is to strengthen scientific research and education...

4 Oct 2025

Open position: Professor or Assistant / Associate (tenure track) Professor in Plant Ecology (U. Turku Finland) Please share ats.talentadore.com/apply/kasvie...

Teppo Hiltunen reposted

ats.talentadore.comDoctoral Researcher / Project researcher in Experimental Evolution of Host–Microbiota InteractionsThe Faculty of Science at the University of Turku invites applications for a doctoral researcher / project researcher position at the Department of Biology. The position is fully funded 4-years. Emplo...

8 Aug 2025

Dr. Anni Hämäläinen from @tcsmtutu.bsky.social is looking for a PhD researcher to @utu.fi co-supervised by me and @teppo-h.bsky.social on experimental evolution of host-microbiota interactions (Drosphila). Please spread the message. ats.talentadore.com/apply/vaitos...

8 Aug 2025

Fully funded PhD position at the university of Turku. ats.talentadore.com/apply/vaitos...

8 July 2025

My first GRC, but hopefully not the last one. One of the best meetings that I have ever attented

biorxiv.orgUniversal bacterial clade dynamics dominate under predation despite altered phenotypes and mutation targetsRecent studies have revealed bacterial genome-wide evolution to be complex and dynamic even in a constant environment. The evolution is characterized by the emergence of new clades competing or tempor...

7 Feb 2025

Universal bacterial clade dynamics dominate under predation despite altered phenotypes and mutation targets www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Teppo Hiltunen reposted

nature.comPre-exposure to disturbance enhances species resilience and protects from change - Nature Ecology & EvolutionIn a serial passage experiment with a 23-species model microbial community, we found that higher dispersal led to stronger spread of the effects of antibiotic disturbance across a metacommunity. This ...

18 Jan 2025

Check out our new article in @natureecoevo.bsky.social Research Briefing: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Article: www.nature.com/articles/s41... We showed that antibiotic pre-exposure of abundant species protected entire communities and metacommunities from change during antibiotic exposure

nature.comPre-exposure of abundant species to disturbance improves resilience in microbial metacommunitiesNature Ecology & Evolution - Community resilience to stress is affected by factors such as pre-exposure to the same stress and intercommunity dispersal. The authors show that pre-exposing the...

17 Jan 2025

Pre-exposure of abundant species to disturbance improves resilience in microbial metacommunities www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Teppo Hiltunen reposted

Ákos T Kovács

@evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social

1 Jan 2025

Temporal Changes in the Role of Species Sorting and Evolution Determine Community Dynamics Ecology Letters by Julius Hoffmann, @slhogle.bsky.social, @teppo-h.bsky.social, and Lutz Becks onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

onlinelibrary.wiley.comTemporal Changes in the Role of Species Sorting and Evolution Determine Community DynamicsEvolutionary change within community members and shifts in species composition contribute to community and trait dynamics. To integrate when and how both processes structure communities, we estimated...

21 Nov 2024

Great to see that this place is picking up among the scientists! Really looking forward that this could be the new happy (online) place for scientists. This has been missing for a while.

13 Mar 2024

Venue of the Nordic AMR centers meeting in Tromsø. 😀