Imperial College London
Alternate

ProfessorThomasBell

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Life Sciences (Silwood Park)

Professor of Microbial Ecology
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 2268thomas.bell

 
 
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Location

 

MunroSilwood Park

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Barrett:2011:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01687.x,
author = {Barrett, LG and Bell, T and Dwyer, G and Bergelson, J},
doi = {10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01687.x},
journal = {Ecology Letters},
pages = {1149--1157},
title = {Cheating, trade-offs and the evolution of aggressiveness in a natural pathogen population},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01687.x},
volume = {14},
year = {2011}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The evolutionary dynamics of pathogens are critically important for disease outcomes, prevalence and emergence. In this study we investigate ecological conditions that may promote the long-term maintenance of virulence polymorphisms in pathogen populations. Recent theory predicts that evolution towards increased virulence can be reversed if less-aggressive social 'cheats' exploit more aggressive 'cooperator' pathogens. However, there is no evidence that social exploitation operates within natural pathogen populations. We show that for the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae, major polymorphisms for pathogenicity are maintained at unexpectedly high frequencies in populations infecting the host Arabidopsis thaliana. Experiments reveal that less-aggressive strains substantially increase their growth potential in mixed infections and have a fitness advantage in non-host environments. These results suggest that niche differentiation can contribute to the maintenance of virulence polymorphisms, and that both within-host and between-host growth rates modulate cheating and cooperation in P. syringae populations.
AU  - Barrett,LG
AU  - Bell,T
AU  - Dwyer,G
AU  - Bergelson,J
DO  - 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01687.x
EP  - 1157
PY  - 2011///
SP  - 1149
TI  - Cheating, trade-offs and the evolution of aggressiveness in a natural pathogen population
T2  - Ecology Letters
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01687.x
VL  - 14
ER  -
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