10.5061/DRYAD.49RD9
Dobay, Akos
University of Zurich
Bagheri, Homayoun C.
University of Zurich
Messina, Antonio
University of Zurich
Kümmerli, Rolf
University of Zurich
Rankin, Daniel J.
University of Zurich
Data from: Interaction effects of cell diffusion, cell density and public
goods properties on the evolution of cooperation in digital microbes
Dryad
dataset
2014
Evolution of co-operation
Microbes
2014-06-22T17:19:10Z
2014-06-22T17:19:10Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12437
308903 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Microbial cooperation typically consists in the sharing of secreted
metabolites (referred to as public goods) within the community. Although
public goods generally promote population growth, they are also vulnerable
to exploitation by cheating mutants, which no longer contribute, but still
benefit from the public goods produced by others. Although previous
studies have identified a number of key factors that prevent the spreading
of cheaters, little is known about how these factors interact and jointly
shape the evolution of microbial cooperation. Here, we address this issue
by investigating the interaction effects of cell diffusion, cell density,
public good diffusion and durability (factors known to individually
influence costs and benefits of public goods production) on selection for
cooperation. To be able to quantify these effects across a wide parameter
space, we developed an individual-based simulation platform, consisting of
digital cooperator and cheater bacteria inhabiting a finite
two-dimensional continuous toroidal surface. Our simulations, which
closely mimic microbial microcolony growth, revealed that: (i) either
reduced cell diffusion (which keeps cooperators together) or reduced
public good diffusion (which keeps the public goods closer to the
producer) is not only essential but also sufficient for cooperation to be
promoted; (ii) the sign of selection for or against cooperation can change
as a function of cell density and in interaction with diffusion
parameters; and (iii) increased public goods durability has opposing
effects on the evolution of cooperation depending on the level of cell and
public good diffusion. Our work highlights that interactions between key
parameters of public goods cooperation give rise to complex fitness
landscapes, a finding that calls for multifactorial approaches when
studying microbial cooperation in natural systems.
Simulation dataThe Data folder contains all the individual entries used to
plot the figures presented in the study. The folder contains a parameter
legend file describing the meaning of each column in the data
files.Data.zip