Mutational meltdown of putative microbial altruists in Streptomyces coelicolor colonies.

ABSTRACT: In colonies of the filamentous multicellular bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor, a subpopulation of cells arises that hyperproduces metabolically costly antibiotics, resulting in a division of labor that increases colony fitness. Because these cells contain large genomic deletions that cause massive reductions to individual fitness, their behavior is similar to altruistic worker castes in social insects or somatic cells in multicellular organisms. To understand these mutant cells' reproductive and genomic fate after their emergence, we use experimental evolution by serially transferring populations via spore-to-spore transfer for 25 cycles, reflective of the natural mode of bottlenecked transmission for these spore-forming bacteria. We show that in contrast to wild-type cells, putatively al

SUBMITTER: Zhang Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9046218 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature