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SUMMARY:Contributed Talk 7: Social evolution of toxic metal bioremediation
  in P.aeruginosa - O'Brien\, S (University of Exeter)
DTSTART:20141029T103000Z
DTEND:20141029T104500Z
UID:TALK55786@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Mustapha Amrani
DESCRIPTION:Bacteria are often iron-limited\, hence produce extracellular 
 iron-scavenging siderophores. A crucial feature of siderophore production 
 is that it can be an altruistic behaviour (individually costly but benefit
 ting neighbouring cells)\, thus siderophore producers can be invaded by no
 n-producing social cheats. Recent studies have shown that siderophores can
  also bind other heavy metals (such as Cu and Zn)\, but in this case sider
 ophore chelation actually reduces metal uptake by bacteria. These complexe
 s reduce heavy metal toxicity\, hence siderophore production may contribut
 e to toxic metal bioremediation. Here\, we show that siderophore productio
 n in the context of bioremediation is also an altruistic trait and can be 
 exploited by cheating phenotypes in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas
  aeruginosa. Specifically\, we show that in toxic copper concentrations: 1
 ) siderophore non-producers evolve de novo and reach high frequencies\; an
 d 2) that producing stra in s are fitter than isogenic non-producing strai
 ns in monoculture\, and vice versa in co-culture. Moreover\, we show that 
 the evolutionary effect copper has on reducing siderophore production is g
 reater than the reduction observed under iron-limited conditions. We discu
 ss the relevance of these results to the evolution of siderophore producti
 on in natural communities and heavy metal bioremediation.\n
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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