Correction to: The ISME Journal (2016) 11, 569–583; doi:10.1038/ismej.2016.111; published online 23 August 2016

The affiliation listed for Boyke Bunk and Cathrin Spröer was incorrectly listed as ‘Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany’.

The correct affiliation is ‘Leibniz-Institute DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany’.