Living on the surface: community spreading of Bacillus subtilis

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Erika Kothe, since 7/2017
• Subject Area: Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology ; Metabolism, Biochemistry and Genetics of Microorganisms
• Term: from 2015 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 278678757

The evolution of cooperation is a fascinating puzzle in evolutionary biology. Several instances have been described where individual microbial cells cooperate by secreting products that are advantageous for the entire community, but lessen the fitness of the producing cells. The spatial distribution within the community offers a solution that can clarify the evolution and stability of cooperative interactions. It has been shown that cooperation is critical for microbial communities, most notably in biofilms; however the degree of cooperation strongly depends on the population structure. We have recently showed that spatial community structure provides an explanation how cooperation might develop and remain stable. Microbial surface colonization requires various secreted compounds. Here, the role and certain combination of microbial public goods will be examined in Bacillus subtilis under various surface cultivating conditions. Competition experiments will be used to understand the importance of public good production in expanding populations to reveal how the diffusion properties of public goods determine spatial distribution and competitive fitness of microbial strains. Microbes provide simple and suitable systems to examine basic evolutionary questions related to marketing strategies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Ákos Tibor Kovács, Ph.D., until 6/2017