Horizontal gene transfer of the secretome drives the evolution of bacterial cooperation and virulence.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Microbes engage in a remarkable array of cooperative behaviors, secreting shared proteins that are essential for foraging, shelter, microbial warfare, and virulence. These proteins are costly, rendering populations of cooperators vulnerable to exploitation by nonproducing cheaters arising by gene loss or migration. In such conditions, how can cooperation persist?

Results

Our model predicts that differential gene mobility drives intragenomic variation in investment in cooperative traits. More mobile loci generate stronger among-individual genetic correlations at these loci (higher relatedness) and thereby allow the maintenance of more cooperative traits via kin selection. By analyzing 21 Escherichia genomes, we confirm that genes coding for secreted proteins-the se

SUBMITTER: Nogueira T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2773837 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature