Quorum sensing provides a molecular mechanism for evolution to tune and maintain investment in cooperation.

ABSTRACT: As selection frequently favors noncooperating defectors in mixed populations with cooperators, mechanisms that promote cooperation stability clearly exist. One potential mechanism is bacterial cell-to-cell communication, quorum sensing (QS), which can allow cooperators to prevent invasion by defectors. However, the impact of QS on widespread maintenance of cooperation in well-mixed conditions has not been experimentally demonstrated over extended evolutionary timescales. Here, we use wild-type (WT) Vibrio campbellii that regulates cooperation with QS and an unconditional cooperating (UC) mutant to examine the evolutionary origins and dynamics of novel defectors during a long-term evolution experiment. We found that UC lineages were completely outcompeted by defectors, whereas functioning Q

SUBMITTER: Bruger EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8115533 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature