Projects per year
Abstract
Cheaters disrupt cooperation by reaping the benefits without paying their fair share of associated costs. Cheater impact can be diminished if cooperators display a tag ('greenbeard') and recognise and preferentially direct cooperation towards other tag carriers. Despite its popular appeal, the feasibility of such greenbeards has been questioned because the complex patterns of partner-specific cooperative behaviours seen in nature require greenbeards to come in different colours. Here we show that a locus ('Tgr') of a social amoeba represents a polychromatic greenbeard. Patterns of natural Tgr locus sequence polymorphisms predict partner-specific patterns of cooperation by underlying variation in partner-specific protein-protein binding strength and recognition specificity. Finally, Tgr locus polymorphisms increase fitness because they help avoid potential costs of cooperating with incompatible partners. These results suggest that a polychromatic greenbeard can provide a key mechanism for the evolutionary maintenance of cooperation.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | 14171 |
Journal | Nature Communications |
Volume | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 25 Jan 2017 |
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'A polychromatic 'greenbeard' locus determines patterns of cooperation in a social amoeba'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 2 Finished
-
A Genomic Perspective on Social Selection, Natural Selection and Random Genetic Drift
Wolf, J. (PI) & Hurst, L. (CoI)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
1/09/15 → 31/12/18
Project: Research council
-
Genetic Constraint in Social Evolution
Wolf, J. (PI)
Natural Environment Research Council
1/01/11 → 31/12/13
Project: Research council
Profiles
-
Jason Wolf
- Department of Life Sciences - Professor of Evolutionary Genetics
- Milner Centre for Evolution
- Centre for Mathematical Biology
Person: Research & Teaching