Costs and benefits of provocation in bacterial warfare.

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Version: Final published version
Serval ID
serval:BIB_CEDECBAF628B
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Costs and benefits of provocation in bacterial warfare.
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Author(s)
Gonzalez D., Sabnis A., Foster K.R., Mavridou DAI
ISSN
1091-6490 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0027-8424
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2018
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
115
Number
29
Pages
7593-7598
Language
english
Abstract
Competition in animals involves a wide variety of aggressive behaviors. One of the most sophisticated strategies for a focal actor is to provoke a competitor into uncontrolled aggression toward other competitors. Like animals, bacteria rely on a broad spectrum of molecular weapons, some of which provoke potential rivals by triggering retaliation. While bacterial provocation is well documented, its potential adaptive value has received little attention. Here, we examine the costs and benefits of provocation using mathematical modeling and experiments with <i>Escherichia coli</i> strains encoding colicin toxins. We show that provocation is typically costly in one-to-one encounters because a provoking strain receives a strong reciprocal attack compared with nonprovoking strains. By contrast, provocation can be strongly beneficial in communities including more than two toxin-producing strains, especially when the provoker is shielded from, or resistant to, its opponents' toxins. In these scenarios, we demonstrate that the benefit of provocation derives from a "divide-and-conquer" effect by which aggression-provoking toxin producers force their competitors into increased reciprocal aggression, leading to their cross-elimination. Furthermore, we show that this effect can be mimicked by using antibiotics that promote warfare among strains in a bacterial community, highlighting the potential of provocation as an antimicrobial approach.
Keywords
bacterial communities, colicin, competition, provocation, social evolution
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
03/08/2018 16:15
Last modification date
20/08/2019 15:49
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