Genetic information transfer promotes cooperation in bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Many bacterial species are social, producing costly secreted "public good" molecules that enhance the growth of neighboring cells. The genes coding for these cooperative traits are often propagated via mobile genetic elements and can be virulence factors from a biomedical perspective. Here, we present an experimental framework that links genetic information exchange and the selection of cooperative traits. Using simulations and experiments based on a synthetic bacterial system to control public good secretion and plasmid conjugation, we demonstrate that horizontal gene transfer can favor cooperation. In a well-mixed environment, horizontal transfer brings a direct infectious advantage to any gene, regardless of its cooperation properties. However, in a structured population transfer select

SUBMITTER: Dimitriu T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4121819 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature