A minimal model of cross-feeding in microbial communities

The active exchange of resources in biological systems can give rise to complex emergent phenomena. For example, many bacterial communities employ metabolic cross-feeding—a process of importance to physiology, ecology, and industry—in which bistability and oscillations are observed but not well understood. Here, we present a minimal model of bacterial cross-feeding that enables us to establish biophysical rules underlying these non-linear phenomena. Because the metabolic network described by our model manifests in many diverse biological systems, our results help to provide quantitative and generalizable principles to guide future work.