The Structure, Ecology and Evolution of Interactions Within Microbial Populations

Microbial populations exhibit a diverse set of interactions that occur at different spatial and temporal scales. These interactions are the focus of the 2019 Microbial Population Biology Gordon Research Conference. We will explore how molecular interactions within and between cells influence collective dynamics at the scale of populations. We will probe how interactions between microbes and their mobile genetic elements (such as plasmids and phage) affect evolutionary trajectories and gene flow. We will survey chemical and physical interactions between different microbial populations to understand microbial community dynamics. We will scale up to interactions between microscopic and macroscopic organisms to uncover the assembly, evolution and impact of various microbiomes. We will investigate the evolution of novel ecological and functional interactions, as well as the origin of higher-order interactions across some of the major evolutionary transitions. We will also explore how our field interacts with other domains. We will tackle how concepts from microbial population biology connect to medicine, leading to a better understanding and treatment of cancer as well as various infectious diseases. Finally, we also reveal how microbial population biology impacts industry, art and science communication.