Repression of competition favours cooperation: experimental evidence from bacteria

摘要: Repression of competition (RC) within social groups has been suggested as a key mechanism driving the evolution cooperation, because it aligns individual's proximate interest with group. Despite its enormous potential for explaining cooperation across all levels biological organization, ranging from fair meiosis, to policing in insect societies, sanctions mutualistic interactions between species, there no direct experimental test whether RC favours spread cooperators well- mixed population cheats. To address this, we carried out an study effect upon cooperative trait - production iron-scavenging siderophore molecules bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We found that was favoured when producers and nonsiderophore-producing cheats repressed, but not treatment where two strains permitted. further show altered cost did affect relatedness among interacting individuals. This confirms per se, opposed increased relatedness, driven observed increase bacterial cooperation.