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Review
. 2015 Dec 23:4:F1000 Faculty Rev-1504.
doi: 10.12688/f1000research.7363.1. eCollection 2015.

Sharing the sandbox: Evolutionary mechanisms that maintain bacterial cooperation

Eric Bruger  1 , Christopher Waters  1
Affiliations
Review

Sharing the sandbox: Evolutionary mechanisms that maintain bacterial cooperation

Eric Bruger et al. F1000Res. .

Abstract

Microbes are now known to participate in an extensive repertoire of cooperative behaviors such as biofilm formation, production of extracellular public-goods, group motility, and higher-ordered multicellular structures. A fundamental question is how these cooperative tasks are maintained in the face of non-cooperating defector cells. Recently, a number of molecular mechanisms including facultative participation, spatial sorting, and policing have been discovered to stabilize cooperation. Often these different mechanisms work in concert to reinforce cooperation. In this review, we describe bacterial cooperation and the current understanding of the molecular mechanisms that maintain it.

Keywords: bacterial cooperation; biofilm; microbes.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

No competing interests were disclosed.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Mechanisms that act to maintain cooperation.
A. Quorum Sensing. The cooperative behavior is induced only when a sufficient amount of signal has accumulated (left). B. Spatial Structure. When cells are able to assort with kin in space, particularly in the case of biofilm formation (bottom left), dispersal of cells and diffusion of public goods are limited and promote the maintenance of cooperative behavior. C. Policing. This mechanism may act through directed harm (left) or restraint of benefits (right). D. Metabolic Constraint. Producers of a cooperative behavior such as a public good also produce an individually retained private good that is beneficial or required for survival and growth in the focal environment. E. Metabolic Prudence. Cells detect nutrients and other cues in their environment to determine whether it is cost effective to cooperate.
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