Skip to main content

In the Light of Evolution Volume V: Cooperation and Conflict (2011) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

Part II: COOPERATION WRIT SMALL: MICROBES
Pages 87-90

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 87...
... But in nature microbes live in complex multispecies structured environments. Social interactions are profound, because microbes perform many functions (such as digestion)
Read the entire page →
From page 88...
... The researchers engineered double colicin producers and resisters so production and resistance would not be lost or gained in their system, and then, they asked how the three types of clone would fare under different migration schemes compared with how the resistor performed on its own. The authors found that the resistor strain exhibited the most restraint with restricted migration in the presence of all three strains, just the conditions where their models expect cooperation to evolve.
Read the entire page →
From page 89...
... The authors' models indicate that other species can insulate secretors from selfish nonsecretors, even when the other species can use the secretions themselves. Other factors such as the role of dispersal and nutrient levels are also addressed in these models, which begin the important task of considering microbial sociality and ecology simultaneously, because these factors must influence how selection operates on these systems in nature.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • fruiting bodies
  • social interactions
  • easily studied
  • considering microbial
  • bacteria aggregate

  • resistor performed
  • migration schemes
  • movement usually
  • microbes perform
  • predatory bacterium

  • structured environments
  • single cell
  • restricted migration
  • shed light
  • consistently dominates

  • studying microbial
  • engineered double
  • single clones
  • social packs
  • nontransitive hierarchy

  • additional species
  • models expect
  • joshua nahum
  • form hardy
  • genetic basis

  • extracellular secretions
  • suzanne kraemer
  • researchers engineered
  • distinct clones
  • microbes live


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.