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Starvation drives co-existence in cross-feeding bacterial populations

McLaughlin, W. F.; Behringer, M. G.

2025-04-23 microbiology
10.1101/2025.04.22.650053 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Cross-feeding is a universal feature of natural microbial communities that extends even into subpopulation structures, generating cooperative ecotypes. However, we still lack an understanding of the ecological parameters that support the ecotype co-existence necessary for co-evolution between partners within populations. Here, we show that repeated moderate starvation - conditions that mimic the fluctuations experienced by microbes in nature - can drive frequency-dependent co-existence for hundreds of generations, providing a new mechanism for the origin of cooperation and the maintenance of population-level diversity in natural microbial communities.

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