Conflict of interest and signal interference lead to the breakdown of honest signaling.

ABSTRACT: Animals use signals to coordinate a wide range of behaviors, from feeding offspring to predator avoidance. This poses an evolutionary problem, because individuals could potentially signal dishonestly to coerce others into behaving in ways that benefit the signaler. Theory suggests that honest signaling is favored when individuals share a common interest and signals carry reliable information. Here, we exploit the opportunities offered by bacterial signaling to test these predictions with an experimental evolution approach. We show that: (1) reduced relatedness leads to the relative breakdown of signaling, (2) signaling breaks down by the invasion of mutants that show both reduced signaling and reduced response to signal, (3) the genetic route to signaling breakdown is variable, and (4) the

SUBMITTER: Popat R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4862024 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature