Trade, Borrow, or Steal: How Acquired Metabolism Drives Evolutionary Innovation

While biologists typically think of an organism's metabolism as hard-wired in its DNA, in reality a vast array of species gain access to additional forms of metabolism from other species. This “acquired metabolism” can be obtained through interactions ranging from mutualism to predation, creating opportunities for niche expansion and, ultimately, evolutionary diversification. I'll focus on two examples of acquired metabolism—chloroplast-stealing marine microbes and tree-fungal mutualisms—to illustrate how these metabolic exchanges create and maintain diversity on our planet. We'll explore these systems using a combination of field observations (and collections), laboratory experiments, and, especially, mathematical models, demonstrating how the synergy between these approaches can give us insight into the mechanisms underlying acquired metabolism.