In the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, shortened stalks may limit obligate cheater success even when exploitable partners are available.

ABSTRACT: Cooperation is widespread across life, but its existence can be threatened by exploitation. The rise of obligate social cheaters that are incapable of contributing to a necessary cooperative function can lead to the loss of that function. In the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, obligate social cheaters cannot form dead stalk cells and in chimeras instead form living spore cells. This gives them a competitive advantage within chimeras. However, obligate cheaters of this kind have thus far not been found in nature, probably because they are often enough in clonal populations that they need to retain the ability to produce stalks. In this study we discovered an additional cost to obligate cheaters. Even when there are wild-type cells to parasitize, the chimeric fruiting bodies t

SUBMITTER: Medina J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10984163 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature