Over billions of years, microorganisms have developed a tremendous repertoire of metabolic capabilities enabling them to occupy niches composed of complex geochemical, small molecule, and microbial gradients. For the most part, microbes and all other organisms have evolved within the context of microbial communities and we are just beginning to appreciate the depth of interdependencies within microbiomes and the links between microbiome structure and environmental controls. This talk will present recent applications of exometabolite profiling to examine microbial niches and metabolic interactions. Specifically, our investigations of the metabolic overlap between microbes isolated from the same environment and how production of a single metabolite may have a profound impact on the community structure. I will also discuss our most recent work extending these studies to investigate the life cycle alterations in the exudate profiles of Avena barbata and how specific exudates selectively used by plant associated bacteria may drive observed changes in rhizosphere structure.
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