Prevalent emergence of reciprocity among cross-feeding bacteria

Explaining the de novo evolution of obligate cooperative cross-feeding interactions among bacteria is a fundamental problem. A critical step during this process is the emergence of reciprocity among two interaction partners, because a mutually beneficial exchange of metabolic byproducts can subsequently favour the evolution of cooperative cross-feeding. However, so far, the propensity with which unidirectional cross-feeding interactions transition into bidirectional interactions remains unknown. To address this issue, we systematically cocultured four amino acid auxotrophic genotypes of two bacterial species with potential amino acid donors belonging to 25 different bacterial species. Surprisingly, the results of this experiment revealed that in around 40% of all cases analysed, both the auxotrophic recipient and the metabolically autonomous donor gained a significant growth advantage in coculture. Subsequent experiments clarified that the auxotrophy-causing mutation did not induce the growth-enhancing effect of recipients, but that it was rather due to a generally high propensity of different species to engage in synergistic metabolic interactions. Together, these findings show that reciprocity commonly emerges spontaneously in unidirectional cross-feeding interactions, thus paving the way for the evolution of even tighter metabolic interactions.