Journal article : Review
Understanding microbial divisions of labor
- Abstract:
- Divisions of labor are ubiquitous in nature and can be found at nearly every level of biological organization, from the individuals of a shared society to the cells of a single multicellular organism. Many different types of microbes have also evolved a division of labor among its colony members. Here we review several examples of microbial divisions of labor, including cases from both multicellular and unicellular microbes. We first discuss evolutionary arguments, derived from kin selection, that allow divisions of labor to be maintained in the face of non-cooperative cheater cells. Next we examine the widespread natural variation within species in their expression of divisions of labor and compare this to the idea of optimal caste ratios in social insects. We highlight gaps in our understanding of microbial caste ratios and argue for a shift in emphasis from understanding the maintenance of divisions of labor, generally, to instead focusing on its specific ecological benefits for microbial genotypes and colonies. Thus, in addition to the canonical divisions of labor between, e.g., reproductive and vegetative tasks, we may also anticipate divisions of labor to evolve to reduce the costly production of secondary metabolites or secreted enzymes, ideas we consider in the context of streptomycetes. The study of microbial divisions of labor offers opportunities for new experimental and molecular insights across both well-studied and novel model systems.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 284.7KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.3389/fmicb.2016.02070
Authors
- Publisher:
- Frontiers Media
- Journal:
- Frontiers in Microbiology More from this journal
- Volume:
- 7
- Article number:
- 2070
- Place of publication:
- Switzerland
- Publication date:
- 2016-12-21
- Acceptance date:
- 2016-12-07
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1664-302X
- Pmid:
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28066387
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Subtype:
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Review
- Pubs id:
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1161085
- Local pid:
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pubs:1161085
- Deposit date:
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2023-08-11
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Zhang et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2016
- Rights statement:
- © 2016 Zhang, Claessen and Rozen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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