Spite and virulence in the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Social interactions within populations of pathogenic microbes may play an important role in determining disease virulence. One such ubiquitous interaction is the production of anticompetitor toxins; an example of a spiteful behavior, because it results in direct fitness costs to both the actor and r...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 106; no. 14; pp. 5703 - 5707
Main Authors Inglis, R. Fredrik, Gardner, Andy, Cornelis, Pierre, Buckling, Angus
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 07.04.2009
National Acad Sciences
Subjects
Animal populations
Animals
Bacteria
bacterial infections
Bacterial Toxins
Bacteriocins
Biological Sciences
biosynthesis
Butterflies & moths
Caterpillars
Competitive Behavior
Ecological competition
entomopathogenic bacteria
Evolution
Galleria mellonella
Intermediate frequencies
larvae
Mathematical models
Moths - microbiology
Population Dynamics
Population growth rate
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Pseudomonas aeruginosa - pathogenicity
Social interaction
strain differences
Toxins
Virulence
Viruses
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Summary:Social interactions within populations of pathogenic microbes may play an important role in determining disease virulence. One such ubiquitous interaction is the production of anticompetitor toxins; an example of a spiteful behavior, because it results in direct fitness costs to both the actor and recipient. Following from predictions made by mathematical models, we carried out experiments using the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa to test under what social conditions toxin (bacteriocin) production is favored and how this in turn affects virulence in the larvae of the wax moth Galleria mellonella. Consistent with theory, we found that the growth of bacteriocin producers relative to sensitive non-producers is maximized when toxin producers are at intermediate frequencies in the population. Furthermore, growth rate and virulence in caterpillars was minimized when bacteriocin producers have the greatest relative growth advantage. These results suggest that spiteful interactions may play an important role in the population dynamics and virulence of natural bacterial infections.
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Author contributions: R.F.I., A.G., and A.B. designed research; R.F.I. and A.G. performed research; P.C. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; R.F.I. analyzed data; and R.F.I., A.G., P.C., and A.B. wrote the paper.
Edited by Robert May, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, and approved February 10, 2009
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0810850106