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Krishnan N, Rózsa L, Szilágyi A, Garay J. Coevolutionary stability of host-symbiont systems with mixed-mode transmission. J Theor Biol 2024; 576:111620. [PMID: 37708987 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2023.111620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2023] [Revised: 07/30/2023] [Accepted: 09/08/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
The coevolution of hosts and symbionts based on virulence and mode of transmission is a complex and diverse biological phenomenon. We introduced a conceptual model to study the stable coexistence and coevolution of an obligate symbiont (mutualist or parasite) with mixed-mode transmission and its host. Using an age-structured Leslie model for the host, we demonstrated how the obligate symbiont could modify the host's life history traits (survival and fecundity) and the long-term growth rate of the infected lineage. When the symbiont is vertically transmitted, we found that the host and its symbiont could maximize the infected lineage's evolutionary success (multi-level selection). Our model showed that symbionts' effect on host longevity and reproduction might differ, even be opposing, and their net effect might often be counterintuitive. The evolutionary stability of the ecologically stable coexistence was analyzed in the framework of coevolutionary dynamics. Moreover, we found conditions for the ecological and evolutionary stability of the resident host-symbiont pair, which does not allow invasion by rare mutants (each mutant dies out by ecological selection). We concluded that, within the context of our simplified model conditions, a host-symbiont system with mixed-mode transmission is evolutionarily stable unconditionally only if the host can maximize the Malthusian parameters of the infected and non-infected lineages using the same strategy. Finally, we performed a game-theoretical analysis of our selection situation and compared two stability definitions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nandakishor Krishnan
- Institute of Evolution, Centre for Ecological Research, Konkoly-Thege M. út 29-33, Budapest 1121, Hungary; Doctoral School of Biology, Institute of Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest 1117, Hungary.
| | - Lajos Rózsa
- Institute of Evolution, Centre for Ecological Research, Konkoly-Thege M. út 29-33, Budapest 1121, Hungary; Centre for Eco-Epidemiology, National Laboratory for Health Security, Hungary
| | - András Szilágyi
- Institute of Evolution, Centre for Ecological Research, Konkoly-Thege M. út 29-33, Budapest 1121, Hungary
| | - József Garay
- Institute of Evolution, Centre for Ecological Research, Konkoly-Thege M. út 29-33, Budapest 1121, Hungary
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Kleshnina M, McKerral JC, González-Tokman C, Filar JA, Mitchell JG. Shifts in evolutionary balance of phenotypes under environmental changes. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:220744. [PMID: 36340514 PMCID: PMC9627443 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Environments shape communities by driving individual interactions and the evolutionary outcome of competition. In static, homogeneous environments a robust, evolutionary stable, outcome is sometimes reachable. However, inherently stochastic, this evolutionary process need not stabilize, resulting in a dynamic ecological state, often observed in microbial communities. We use evolutionary games to study the evolution of phenotypic competition in dynamic environments. Under the assumption that phenotypic expression depends on the environmental shifts, existing periodic relationships may break or result in formation of new periodicity in phenotypic interactions. The exact outcome depends on the environmental shift itself, indicating the importance of understanding how environments influence affected systems. Under periodic environmental fluctuations, a stable state preserving dominant phenotypes may exist. However, rapid environmental shifts can lead to critical shifts in the phenotypic evolutionary balance. This might lead to environmentally favoured phenotypes dominating making the system vulnerable. We suggest that understanding of the robustness of the system's current state is necessary to anticipate when it will shift to a new equilibrium via understanding what level of perturbations the system can take before its equilibrium changes. Our results provide insights in how microbial communities can be steered to states where they are dominated by desired phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jody C. McKerral
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
| | | | - Jerzy A. Filar
- School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - James G. Mitchell
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
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Halloway AH, Heath KD, McNickle GG. When does mutualism offer a competitive advantage? A game-theoretic analysis of host-host competition in mutualism. AOB PLANTS 2022; 14:plac010. [PMID: 35444786 PMCID: PMC9015964 DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plac010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2021] [Accepted: 03/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Due to their non-motile nature, plants rely heavily on mutualistic interactions to obtain resources and carry out services. One key mutualism is the plant-microbial mutualism in which a plant trades away carbon to a microbial partner for nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous. Plants show much variation in the use of this partnership from the individual level to entire lineages depending upon ecological, evolutionary and environmental context. We sought to determine how this context dependency could result in the promotion, exclusion or coexistence of the microbial mutualism by asking if and when the partnership provided a competitive advantage to the plant. To that end, we created a 2 × 2 evolutionary game in which plants could either be a mutualist and pair with a microbe or be a non-mutualist and forgo the partnership. Our model includes both frequency dependence and density dependence, which gives us the eco-evolutionary dynamics of mutualism evolution. As in all models, mutualism only evolved if it could offer a competitive advantage and its net benefit was positive. However, surprisingly the model reveals the possibility of coexistence between mutualist and non-mutualist genotypes due to competition between mutualists over the microbially obtained nutrient. Specifically, frequency dependence of host strategies can make the microbial symbiont less beneficial if the microbially derived resources are shared, a phenomenon that increasingly reduces the frequency of mutualism as the density of competitors increases. In essence, ecological competition can act as a hindrance to mutualism evolution. We go on to discuss basic experiments that can be done to test and falsify our hypotheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdel H Halloway
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 505 S. Goodwin Avenue (M/C 116), Urbana, IL 61801, USA
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, 915 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Katy D Heath
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 505 S. Goodwin Avenue (M/C 116), Urbana, IL 61801, USA
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois, 1206 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Gordon G McNickle
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, 915 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
- Purdue Center for Plant Biology, Purdue University, 915 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
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Bennett AE, Preedy K, Golubski A, Umbanhowar J, Borrett SR, Byrne L, Apostol K, Bever JD, Biederman L, Classen AT, Cuddington K, Graaff M, Garrett KA, Gross L, Hastings A, Hoeksema JD, Hrynkiv V, Karst J, Kummel M, Lee CT, Liang C, Liao W, Mack K, Miller L, Ownley B, Rojas C, Simms EL, Walsh VK, Warren M, Zhu J. Beyond the black box: promoting mathematical collaborations for elucidating interactions in soil ecology. Ecosphere 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.2799] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Alison E. Bennett
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology The Ohio State University Columbus Ohio 43210 USA
| | - Katharine Preedy
- Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland The James Hutton Institute Invergowrie Dundee DD2 5DA UK
| | - Antonio Golubski
- Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology Kennesaw State University Kennesaw Georgia 30144 USA
| | - James Umbanhowar
- Department of Biology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill North Carolina 27599‐3280 USA
| | - Stuart R. Borrett
- Department of Biology and Marine Biology University of North Carolina‐Wilmington Wilmington North Carolina 28403‐5915 USA
| | - Loren Byrne
- Roger Williams University One Old Ferry Road Bristol Rhode Island 02809 USA
| | - Kent Apostol
- Environmental Review 925N. Fairgrounds Road Goldendale Washington 98620 USA
| | - James D. Bever
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology University of Kansas Lawrence Kansas 66045 USA
| | | | - Aimée T. Classen
- The Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources University of Vermont Burlington Vermont 05405 USA
| | | | | | - Karen A. Garrett
- Institute for Sustainable Food Systems and Plant Pathology Department University of Florida Gainesville Florida 32611 USA
| | - Lou Gross
- National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis University of Tennessee Knoxville Tennessee 37996‐1610 USA
| | - Alan Hastings
- Environmental Science and Policy University of California Davis Davis California 95616 USA
| | - Jason D. Hoeksema
- Department of Biology University of Mississippi University Mississippi 38677‐1848 USA
| | | | - Justine Karst
- Renewable Resources University of Alberta Edmonton Alberta T6G 2E3 Canada
| | - Miro Kummel
- Colorado College Colorado Springs Colorado 80903 USA
| | - Charlotte T. Lee
- Department of Biology Duke University Durham North Carolina 27708 USA
| | - Chao Liang
- Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management Institute of Applied Ecology Chinese Academy of Sciences Shenyang 110016 China
| | - Wei Liao
- University of Wisconsin Madison Wisconsin 53706 USA
| | - Keenan Mack
- Department of Biology Illinois College Jacksonville Illinois 62650 USA
| | - Laura Miller
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill North Carolina 27599‐3280 USA
| | - Bonnie Ownley
- The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture Knoxville Tennessee 37996 USA
| | - Claudia Rojas
- Institute of Agronomic Sciences University of O'Higgins Rancagua Chile
| | - Ellen L. Simms
- Department of Integrative Biology University of California, Berkeley Berkeley California 94720‐3140 USA
| | - Vonda K. Walsh
- Virginia Military Institute Lexington Virginia 24450‐0304 USA
| | - Matthew Warren
- Northern Research Station United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Durham New Hampshire 03824 USA
| | - Jun Zhu
- University of Wisconsin Madison Wisconsin 53706‐1598 USA
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Bashandy SR, Abd‐Alla MH, Bagy MMK. Biological Nitrogen Fixation and Biofertilizers as Ideal Potential Solutions for Sustainable Agriculture. INTEGRATING GREEN CHEMISTRY AND SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING 2019:343-396. [DOI: 10.1002/9781119509868.ch12] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
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Kenkel CD, Bay LK. Exploring mechanisms that affect coral cooperation: symbiont transmission mode, cell density and community composition. PeerJ 2018; 6:e6047. [PMID: 30533318 PMCID: PMC6282938 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.6047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2018] [Accepted: 10/31/2018] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
The coral symbiosis is the linchpin of the reef ecosystem, yet the mechanisms that promote and maintain cooperation between hosts and symbionts have not been fully resolved. We used a phylogenetically controlled design to investigate the role of vertical symbiont transmission, an evolutionary mechanism in which symbionts are inherited directly from parents, predicted to enhance cooperation and holobiont fitness. Six species of coral, three vertical transmitters and their closest horizontally transmitting relatives, which exhibit environmental acquisition of symbionts, were fragmented and subjected to a 2-week thermal stress experiment. Symbiont cell density, photosynthetic function and translocation of photosynthetically fixed carbon between symbionts and hosts were quantified to assess changes in physiological performance and cooperation. All species exhibited similar decreases in symbiont cell density and net photosynthesis in response to elevated temperature, consistent with the onset of bleaching. Yet baseline cooperation, or translocation of photosynthate, in ambient conditions and the reduction in cooperation in response to elevated temperature differed among species. Although Porites lobata and Galaxea acrhelia did exhibit the highest levels of baseline cooperation, we did not observe universally higher levels of cooperation in vertically transmitting species. Post hoc sequencing of the Symbiodinium ITS-2 locus was used to investigate the potential role of differences in symbiont community composition. Interestingly, reductions in cooperation at the onset of bleaching tended to be associated with increased symbiont community diversity among coral species. The theoretical benefits of evolving vertical transmission are based on the underlying assumption that the host-symbiont relationship becomes genetically uniform, thereby reducing competition among symbionts. Taken together, our results suggest that it may not be vertical transmission per se that influences host-symbiont cooperation, but genetic uniformity of the symbiont community, although additional work is needed to test this hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carly D. Kenkel
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Line K. Bay
- Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD, Australia
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Raharinirina NA, Brandt G, Merico A. A Trait-Based Model for Describing the Adaptive Dynamics of Coral-Algae Symbiosis. Front Ecol Evol 2017. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2017.00031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Hill MS. Production possibility frontiers in phototroph:heterotroph symbioses: trade-offs in allocating fixed carbon pools and the challenges these alternatives present for understanding the acquisition of intracellular habitats. Front Microbiol 2014; 5:357. [PMID: 25101064 PMCID: PMC4101577 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2014.00357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2014] [Accepted: 06/25/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Intracellular habitats have been invaded by a remarkable diversity of organisms, and strategies employed to successfully reside in another species' cellular space are varied. Common selective pressures may be experienced in symbioses involving phototrophic symbionts and heterotrophic hosts. Here I refine and elaborate the Arrested Phagosome Hypothesis that proposes a mechanism that phototrophs use to gain access to their host's intracellular habitat. I employ the economic concept of production possibility frontiers (PPF) as a useful heuristic to clearly define the trade-offs that an intracellular phototroph is likely to face as it allocates photosynthetically-derived pools of energy. Fixed carbon can fuel basic metabolism/respiration, it can support mitotic division, or it can be translocated to the host. Excess photosynthate can be stored for future use. Thus, gross photosynthetic productivity can be divided among these four general categories, and natural selection will favor phenotypes that best match the demands presented to the symbiont by the host cellular habitat. The PPF highlights trade-offs that exist between investment in growth (i.e., mitosis) or residency (i.e., translocating material to the host). Insights gained from this perspective might help explain phenomena such as coral bleaching because deficits in photosynthetic production are likely to diminish a symbiont's ability to "afford" the costs of intracellular residency. I highlight deficits in our current understanding of host:symbiont interactions at the molecular, genetic, and cellular level, and I also discuss how semantic differences among scientists working with different symbiont systems may diminish the rate of increase in our understanding of phototrophic-based associations. I argue that adopting interdisciplinary (in this case, inter-symbiont-system) perspectives will lead to advances in our general understanding of the phototrophic symbiont's intracellular niche.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malcolm S Hill
- Department of Biology, Gottwald Science Center, University of Richmond Richmond, VA, USA
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Evolutionary dynamics of nitrogen fixation in the legume-rhizobia symbiosis. PLoS One 2014; 9:e93670. [PMID: 24691447 PMCID: PMC3972148 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093670] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2013] [Accepted: 03/09/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The stabilization of host–symbiont mutualism against the emergence of parasitic individuals is pivotal to the evolution of cooperation. One of the most famous symbioses occurs between legumes and their colonizing rhizobia, in which rhizobia extract nutrients (or benefits) from legume plants while supplying them with nitrogen resources produced by nitrogen fixation (or costs). Natural environments, however, are widely populated by ineffective rhizobia that extract benefits without paying costs and thus proliferate more efficiently than nitrogen-fixing cooperators. How and why this mutualism becomes stabilized and evolutionarily persists has been extensively discussed. To better understand the evolutionary dynamics of this symbiosis system, we construct a simple model based on the continuous snowdrift game with multiple interacting players. We investigate the model using adaptive dynamics and numerical simulations. We find that symbiotic evolution depends on the cost–benefit balance, and that cheaters widely emerge when the cost and benefit are similar in strength. In this scenario, the persistence of the symbiotic system is compatible with the presence of cheaters. This result suggests that the symbiotic relationship is robust to the emergence of cheaters, and may explain the prevalence of cheating rhizobia in nature. In addition, various stabilizing mechanisms, such as partner fidelity feedback, partner choice, and host sanction, can reinforce the symbiotic relationship by affecting the fitness of symbionts in various ways. This result suggests that the symbiotic relationship is cooperatively stabilized by various mechanisms. In addition, mixed nodule populations are thought to encourage cheater emergence, but our model predicts that, in certain situations, cheaters can disappear from such populations. These findings provide a theoretical basis of the evolutionary dynamics of legume–rhizobia symbioses, which is extendable to other single-host, multiple-colonizer systems.
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