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Obligate mutualistic cooperation limits evolvability.

Benedikt Pauli1, Leonardo Oña1, Marita Hermann1,2

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Obligate mutualisms, where organisms depend on each other, limit evolutionary adaptation to stress. This cooperation can collapse as partners regain independence, showing reduced evolvability is a cost of mutualism.

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Microbiology

Background:

  • Cooperative mutualisms are vital ecosystem components, often obligate.
  • Individual fitness in mutualisms depends on partners' traits, raising questions about adaptation.
  • The evolutionary adaptability of obligate mutualists to environmental change is poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how obligate mutualistic cooperation affects evolutionary adaptability to environmental stress.
  • To determine the consequences of metabolic interdependence on bacterial adaptation.
  • To explore the stability of mutualistic interactions under selective pressures.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a model system of two auxotrophic Escherichia coli genotypes with reciprocal amino acid exchange.
  • Exposed both unsupplemented cocultures (mutualists) and supplemented monocultures (autonomous) to increasing antibiotic concentrations.
  • Conducted a selection experiment to observe adaptive responses and interaction stability.

Main Results:

  • Metabolically interdependent bacteria exhibited significantly reduced ability to adapt to environmental stress compared to autonomous strains.
  • Obligate mutualists frequently evolved to regain metabolic autonomy, leading to the breakdown of the cooperative interaction.
  • Limited evolvability was identified as a key evolutionary cost associated with obligate mutualistic cooperation.

Conclusions:

  • Obligate mutualism can constrain evolutionary adaptability, posing a significant challenge for species facing environmental change.
  • The potential for mutualistic partners to regain autonomy can destabilize these vital ecological interactions.
  • Entering into obligate cooperation incurs an evolutionary cost of reduced adaptability.