Market forces determine the distribution of a leaky function in a simple microbial community.

ABSTRACT: Many biological functions are leaky, and organisms that perform them contribute some of their products to a community "marketplace" in which nonperforming individuals may compete for them. Leaky functions are partitioned unequally in microbial communities, and the evolutionary forces determining which species perform them and which become beneficiaries are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the market principle of comparative advantage determines the distribution of a leaky antibiotic resistance gene in an environment occupied by two "species"-strains of Escherichia coli growing on mutually exclusive resources and thus occupying separate niches. Communities comprised of antibiotic-resistant cells were rapidly invaded by sensitive cells of both types. While the two phenotyp

SUBMITTER: Adkins-Jablonsky SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8488675 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature