Competition and dispersal in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Taylor, T. and Buckling, A. (2010) Competition and dispersal in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The American Naturalist, 176 (1). pp. 83-89. ISSN 0003-0147 doi: 10.1086/652995

Abstract/Summary

Dispersal plays a crucial role in a range of evolutionary and ecological processes; hence there is strong motivation to understand its evolution. One key prediction is that the relative benefits of dispersal should be greater when dispersing away from close relatives, because in this case dispersal has the additional benefit of alleviating competition with individuals who share the same dispersal alleles. We tested this prediction for the first time using experimental populations of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We measured the fitness of isogenic genotypes that differed only in their dispersal behaviors in both clonal and mixed populations. Consistent with theory, the benefit of dispersal was much higher in clonal populations, and this benefit decreased with increasing growth rate costs associated with dispersal.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/39014
Identification Number/DOI	10.1086/652995
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items Life Sciences > School of Biological Sciences > Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Uncontrolled Keywords	kin selection, experimental evolution, bacteria, virulence, type IV pili.
Publisher	The American Society of Naturalists
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