Infographic: Curbing the Cheaters

From spatial structuring to policing, cooperative bacteria have a wide toolkit to contain the spread of cheaters.

Black and white portrait by Mariella Bodemeier Loayza Careaga, PhD
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In cooperative bacterial communities, cheaters may arise. These bacteria do not pay the cost of producing public goods but still consume the shareable resources produced by other cooperative bacteria.

Infographic showing how bacterial cheaters benefit from cooperators in bacterial communities
© Ashleigh Campsall

Strategies used by cooperators to curb the cheater population in a bacterial community

Infographic showing strategies used by cooperators to curb the cheater population in a bacterial community
© Ashleigh Campsall


Spatial structuring and kin selection

As cooperators build biofilms, they keep their kin close and limit cheaters’ access to communal resources.

Kin discrimination

Cooperators discriminate kin from non-kin and share resources only with highly related cells.

Policing

Cooperating bacteria can sanction cheaters by producing diffusible toxins together with a resource.

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Meet the Author

  • Black and white portrait by Mariella Bodemeier Loayza Careaga, PhD

    Mariella Bodemeier Loayza Careaga, PhD

    Mariella is an assistant editor at The Scientist. She has a background in neuroscience, and her work has appeared in Drug Discovery News and Massive Science.

Published In

June 2023 cover
Summer 2023

Divvying Up Duties

Bacteria cooperate to benefit the collective, but cheaters can rig the system

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