Evolutionary limits to cooperation in microbial communities
Oliveira NM., Niehus R., Foster KR.
Significance Microbes form dense and diverse communities that affect every aspect of our lives. Microbial communities are often viewed as cooperative networks with species working together toward a common goal. Here, we critically evaluate this view using an ecoevolutionary model. We show that cooperating with other species can be a poor evolutionary strategy, because it renders a cell dependent on species that may not be nearby. Moreover, when cooperative exchanges do evolve, they are inefficient and reduce the productivity of the community. Evolution by natural selection then limits the potential for productive cooperation between microbial species. We argue that understanding these limits and how to overcome them will be key to engineering microbial communities for our own ends.