Nutrient reduction induced stringent responses promote bacterial quorum-sensing divergence for population fitness.

ABSTRACT: Bacteria use a cell-cell communication system termed quorum-sensing (QS) to adjust population size by coordinating the costly but beneficial cooperative behaviors. It has long been suggested that bacterial social conflict for expensive extracellular products may drive QS divergence and cause the "tragedy of the commons". However, the underlying molecular mechanism of social divergence and its evolutionary consequences for the bacterial ecology still remain largely unknown. By using the model bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, here we show that nutrient reduction can promote QS divergence for population fitness during evolution but requiring adequate cell density. Mechanically, decreased nutrient supplies can induce RpoS-directed stringent response and enhance the selection pressure on

SUBMITTER: Zhao K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5054682 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature