Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về sinh học được đăng trên tạp chí sinh học Journal of Biology đề tài: Observing bacteria through the lens of social evolution. | Journal of Biology BioMed Central Minireview Observing bacteria through the lens of social evolution Carey D Nadell Bonnie L Bassler1 and Simon A Levin Addresses Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and tDepartment of Molecular Biology Princeton University Princeton NJ 08544 USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute 4000 Jones Bridge Road Chevy Chase MD 20815 USA. Correspondence Simon A Levin. Email slevin@ Published 30 September 2008 Journal of Biology 2008 7 27 doi jbiol87 The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at http content 7 7 27 2008 BioMed Central Ltd Abstract Explaining the evolution of cooperative behavior is a long-standing problem for which much theory has been developed. A recent paper in BMC Biology tests central elements of this theory by manipulating a simple bacterial experimental system. This approach is useful for assessing the principles of social evolution but we argue that more effort must be invested in the inverse problem using social evolution theory to understand the lives of bacteria. The core principle of Darwin s theory of evolution is simple entities with traits that maximize reproductive success will increase in frequency relative to their competitors. A naive application of this idea might suggest that natural selection should only favor organisms that boost their own output of offspring. However nature is rife with cooperative behaviors that decrease the actor s reproduction and increase that of recipient organisms and Darwin himself recognized that cooperation poses a serious challenge for his theory. In many cases this dilemma can be resolved by considering the replication of genes separately from the reproduction of whole organisms. This perspective was first presented clearly by JBS Haldane and then formalized by WD Hamilton who showed that a gene responsible for cooperative behavior will increase in frequency in a population if the cost c .
