title: On the limits of interpreting some plastic responses through a cooperator/cheater prism. A comment on Harrison.
abstract: Micro-organisms are known to exhibit phenotypic plasticity in response to changes in their environment. Recent studies have shown that a parasite strain can adjust its host exploitation strategies to the presence of unrelated strains, e.g. for Plasmodium chabaudi by adjusting its sex-ratio. J. Evol. Biol. 2013; 26: 1370-1378 claims to report a similar plastic response to the presence of unrelated strains in the case of siderophore-producing bacteria. I argue that she does not provide sufficient evidence to support the interpretation of the plastic response she observes (increasing siderophore production in the presence of cheaters) through a cooperator/cheater framework. I show that known plastic responses to physicochemical factors, such as siderophore or iron concentration, seem to offer a clearer and more parsimonious explanation. Finally, I also challenge the parallel she makes between the process she observes in siderophore-producing bacteria and compensation in bi-parental care models.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire MIVEGEC UMR CNRS 5290, UR IRD 224, UM1, UM2, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alizon
mesh_terms: D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000502:physiology*; D017262:Siderophores / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D017262:Siderophores
keywords: bacteria; fitness; kin selection; phenotypic plasticity; siderophore