The bright side of social cheaters: Potential beneficial roles of "social cheaters" in microbial communities
Por:
García-Contreras R., Loarca D.
Publicada:
1 ene 2021
Resumen:
Cooperation in microbial communities via production of public goods is susceptible to social cheating, since selfish individuals that do not contribute to their synthesis but benefit from their production thrive in the presence of cooperators. This behavior has been observed in the laboratory using bacterial and yeast models. Moreover, growing evidence indicates that cheating is frequent in natural microbial communities. In the laboratory, social cheating can promote population collapse or "tragedy of the commons"when excessive. Nevertheless, there are diverse mechanisms that counteract cheating in microbes, as well as theoretical and experimental evidence that suggests possible beneficial roles of social cheaters for the microbial populations. In this mini review manuscript we compile and discuss such possible roles. © 2020 The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS.
Filiaciones:
Departamento de Microbiología y Parasitología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, Copilco Universidad, Circuto Escolar 411A, Coyoacán, Mexico City, 04360, Mexico
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