Evolution of Cross‐Feeding in Microbial Populations
- 1 June 2004
- journal article
- Published by University of Chicago Press in The American Naturalist
- Vol. 163 (6), E126-E135
- https://doi.org/10.1086/383593
Abstract
Although limited by a single resource, microbial populations that grow for long periods in continuous culture (chemostat) frequently evolve stable polymorphisms. These polymorphisms may be maintained by cross-feeding, where one strain partially degrades the primary energy resource and excretes an intermediate that is used as an energy resource by a second strain. It is unclear what selective advantage cross-feeding strains have over a single competitor that completely degrades the primary resource. Here we show that cross-feeding may evolve in microbial populations as a consequence of the following optimization principles: the rate of ATP production is maximized, the concentration of enzymes of the pathway is minimized, and the concentration of intermediates of the pathway is minimized.Keywords
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