Evolutionary history predicts the stability of cooperation in microbial communities

Alexandre Jousset (), Nico Eisenhauer, Eva Materne and Stefan Scheu
Additional contact information
Alexandre Jousset: J.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, Georg August University Göttingen
Nico Eisenhauer: Institute of Ecology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena
Eva Materne: J.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, Georg August University Göttingen
Stefan Scheu: J.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, Georg August University Göttingen

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Cooperation fundamentally contributes to the success of life on earth, but its persistence in diverse communities remains a riddle, as selfish phenotypes rapidly evolve and may spread until disrupting cooperation. Here we investigate how evolutionary history affects the emergence and spread of defectors in multispecies communities. We set up bacterial communities of varying diversity and phylogenetic relatedness and measure investment into cooperation (proteolytic activity) and their vulnerability to invasion by defectors. We show that evolutionary relationships predict the stability of cooperation: phylogenetically diverse communities are rapidly invaded by spontaneous signal-blind mutants (ignoring signals regulating cooperation), while cooperation is stable in closely related ones. Maintenance of cooperation is controlled by antagonism against defectors: cooperators inhibit phylogenetically related defectors, but not distant ones. This kin-dependent inhibition links phylogenetic diversity and evolutionary dynamics and thus provides a robust mechanistic predictor for the persistence of cooperation in natural communities.

Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3573 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3573

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3573

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().