title: Genetic information transfer promotes cooperation in bacteria.
abstract: Many bacterial species are social, producing costly secreted "public good" molecules that enhance the growth of neighboring cells. The genes coding for these cooperative traits are often propagated via mobile genetic elements and can be virulence factors from a biomedical perspective. Here, we present an experimental framework that links genetic information exchange and the selection of cooperative traits. Using simulations and experiments based on a synthetic bacterial system to control public good secretion and plasmid conjugation, we demonstrate that horizontal gene transfer can favor cooperation. In a well-mixed environment, horizontal transfer brings a direct infectious advantage to any gene, regardless of its cooperation properties. However, in a structured population transfer selects specifically for cooperation by increasing the assortment among cooperative alleles. Conjugation allows cooperative alleles to overcome rarity thresholds and invade bacterial populations structured purely by stochastic dilution effects. Our results provide an explanation for the prevalence of cooperative genes on mobile elements, and suggest a previously unidentified benefit of horizontal gene transfer for bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U1001, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes, 75014 Paris, France; and.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dimitriu
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U1001, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes, 75014 Paris, France; and.
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lotton
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U1001, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes, 75014 Paris, France; and.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bénard-Capelle
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U1001, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes, 75014 Paris, France; and.
authors.forename: Dusan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Misevic
authors.affiliation: Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sam P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U1001, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes, 75014 Paris, France; and ariel.lindner@inserm.fr francois.taddei@inserm.fr.
authors.forename: Ariel B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Lindner
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U1001, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes, 75014 Paris, France; and ariel.lindner@inserm.fr francois.taddei@inserm.fr.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Taddei
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal / Q000502:physiology*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: bacterial cooperation; gene mobility; plasmid transfer; social evolution