title: Ecological populations of bacteria act as socially cohesive units of antibiotic production and resistance.
abstract: In animals and plants, social structure can reduce conflict within populations and bias aggression toward competing populations; however, for bacteria in the wild it remains unknown whether such population-level organization exists. Here, we show that environmental bacteria are organized into socially cohesive units in which antagonism occurs between rather than within ecologically defined populations. By screening approximately 35,000 possible mutual interactions among Vibrionaceae isolates from the ocean, we show that genotypic clusters known to have cohesive habitat association also act as units in terms of antibiotic production and resistance. Genetic analyses show that within populations, broad-range antibiotics are produced by few genotypes, whereas all others are resistant, suggesting cooperation between conspecifics. Natural antibiotics may thus mediate competition between populations rather than solely increase the success of individuals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Otto X
authors.initials: OX
authors.lastname: Cordero
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wildschutte
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kirkup
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Proehl
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ngo
authors.forename: Fatima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.forename: Frederique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Le Roux
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mincer
authors.forename: Martin F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Polz
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000898:Antibiosis; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D017753:Ecosystem; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D005838:Genotype; D056265:Microbial Interactions; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D048630:Polyketide Synthases / Q000235:genetics; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*; D014733:Vibrio / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D048630:Polyketide Synthases