Soil is inhabited by a myriad of microorganisms, many of which can form supracellular
structures, called biofilms, comprised of surface-associated microbial cells embedded in …

The growing incidence of antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections poses a
serious threat to public health. Molecules that have yet to be exploited as antibiotics are …

Biological market theory has been used successfully to explain cooperative behavior in
many animal species. Microbes also engage in cooperative behaviors, both with hosts and …

Multicellularity inherently involves a number of cooperative behaviors that are potentially
susceptible to exploitation but can be protected by mechanisms such as kin discrimination …

Variation among parasite strains can affect the progression of disease or the effectiveness of
treatment. What maintains parasite diversity? Here I argue that competition among parasites …

Kin discrimination, the differential treatment of conspecifics based on kinship, occurs across
the tree of life, from animals to plants to fungi to bacteria. When kin and nonkin interact, the …

Understanding the principles that govern community assemblages is a central goal of
ecology. There is limited experimental evidence in natural settings showing that microbial …

Bacteria eliminate competitors via 'chemical warfare'with bacteriocins. Some species appear
to adjust bacteriocin production conditionally in response to the social environment. We …

Bacteria produce a wide arsenal of toxic compounds in order to kill competing species.
Bacteriocins, protein-based toxins produced by nearly all bacteria, have generally been …

Spite, the shady relative of altruism, involves paying a fitness cost to inflict a cost on some
recipient. Here, we investigate a density dependent dynamic model for the evolution of spite …