scholarly journals Quorum-sensing and cheating in bacterial biofilms

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1748) ◽  
pp. 4765-4771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Popat ◽  
Shanika A. Crusz ◽  
Marco Messina ◽  
Paul Williams ◽  
Stuart A. West ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quorum Sensing ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Cell Signalling ◽  
Bacterial Pathogen ◽  
Bacterial Biofilms ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Group Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Clear Support

The idea from human societies that self-interest can lead to a breakdown of cooperation at the group level is sometimes termed the public goods dilemma. We tested this idea in the opportunistic bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa , by examining the influence of putative cheats that do not cooperate via cell-to-cell signalling (quorum-sensing, QS). We found that: (i) QS cheating occurs in biofilm populations owing to exploitation of QS-regulated public goods; (ii) the thickness and density of biofilms was reduced by the presence of non-cooperative cheats; (iii) population growth was reduced by the presence of cheats, and this reduction was greater in biofilms than in planktonic populations; (iv) the susceptibility of biofilms to antibiotics was increased by the presence of cheats; and (v) coercing cooperator cells to increase their level of cooperation decreases the extent to which the presence of cheats reduces population productivity. Our results provide clear support that conflict over public goods reduces population fitness in bacterial biofilms, and that this effect is greater than in planktonic populations. Finally, we discuss the clinical implications that arise from altering the susceptibility to antibiotics.

scholarly journals Solutions to the Public Goods Dilemma in Bacterial Biofilms

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Knut Drescher ◽  
Carey D. Nadell ◽  
Howard A. Stone ◽  
Ned S. Wingreen ◽  
Bonnie L. Bassler
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Bacterial Biofilms ◽  
The Public

scholarly journals Group-Level Selection Increases Cooperation in the Public Goods Game

PLoS ONE ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. e0157840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine C. Eckel ◽  
Enrique Fatas ◽  
Sara Godoy ◽  
Rick K. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Public Goods Game ◽  
The Public

scholarly journals Editorial

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 969-971
Author(s):  
Hermann Eberl ◽  
John Ward
Keyword(s):  
Cell Division ◽  
Quorum Sensing ◽  
Nutrient Concentration ◽  
Extracellular Polymeric Substances ◽  
Cell Signalling ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Bacterial Biofilms ◽  
Liquid Interfaces ◽  
Solid Liquid ◽  
Biofilm Matrix

Biofilms are colonies of microorganisms, usually growing on solid-liquid interfaces, consisting of cells and a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). Such colonies are often elaborately structured and highly dynamic, expanding through cell division and recruitment of cells from outside, and contracting via individual cells or flocs (groups of cells and biofilm matrix) detachment from the biofilm surface. Even amongst simplest single species bacterial biofilms, the behaviour (phenotype) of individual cells is highly heterogenous across the biofilm due to microenvironment variation (e.g. nutrient concentration, pH) and cell-cell signalling (quorum sensing); consequently, many researchers consider biofilms as more akin to multi-cellular organisms rather than a colony of autonomous individual cells.

For the love of football?

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eike Emrich ◽  
Christian Pierdzioch ◽  
Christian Rullang
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Private Consumption ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
The Public ◽  
Volunteer Activity ◽  
Human Capital Model ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Model Versus ◽  
Using Data

SummaryUsing data for a large sample of German football referees, we studied the motives for becoming a football referee. Based on a long modelling tradition in the literature on the economics of volunteering, we studied altruistic motives (public-goods model) versus non-altruistic (egoistic private-consumption and human-capital) motives. We differentiated between self-attributed and other-attributed motives. We found that altruistic motives on average are less strong than other motives. Other-attributed altruistic motives are stronger than self-attributed altruistic motives, indicating the presence of a self-interest bias. We further found that referees who report strong altruistic motives have a higher willingness to quit refereeing when other referees would referee more matches, consistent with the public-goods model. In line with the human-capital model, altruistic motives are stronger for senior referees. Altruistic motives are also stronger for those referees who view refereeing as a volunteer activity.

scholarly journals Protist predation can favour cooperation within bacterial species

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 20130548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ville-Petri Friman ◽  
Stephen P. Diggle ◽  
Angus Buckling
Keyword(s):  
Pseudomonas Aeruginosa ◽  
Quorum Sensing ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Trophic Interactions ◽  
Bacterial Species ◽  
Cell Signalling ◽  
Opportunistic Pathogen ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Floating Cell ◽  
Cell Aggregations

Here, we studied how protist predation affects cooperation in the opportunistic pathogen bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa , which uses quorum sensing (QS) cell-to-cell signalling to regulate the production of public goods. By competing wild-type bacteria with QS mutants (cheats), we show that a functioning QS system confers an elevated resistance to predation. Surprisingly, cheats were unable to exploit this resistance in the presence of cooperators, which suggests that resistance does not appear to result from activation of QS-regulated public goods. Instead, elevated resistance of wild-type bacteria was related to the ability to form more predation-resistant biofilms. This could be explained by the expression of QS-regulated resistance traits in densely populated biofilms and floating cell aggregations, or alternatively, by a pleiotropic cost of cheating where less resistant cheats are selectively removed from biofilms. These results show that trophic interactions among species can maintain cooperation within species, and have further implications for P. aeruginosa virulence in environmental reservoirs by potentially enriching the cooperative and highly infective strains with functional QS system.

Public Service, Public Goods, and the Common Good

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerardo Sanchis Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
International Agencies ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Common ◽  
Appointed Officials

The proper provision of public goods by a well-functioning, impartial government is not the only thing necessary for attaining the common good, but it is essential. The economic view of the human person as a rational, self-interested maximizer has become pervasive in analyzing government dysfunction and is employed by international agencies to generate proposals to realign the economic incentives of government officials. But this mindset assumes and encourages self-interest and undermines idoneidad (suitability)—which includes integrity, motivation, and competence—as the most fundamental characteristic that must be demanded of both elected and appointed officials at all levels of government. The failure of public institutions in Argentina is employed as a telling example of such problems.

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