PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Alexander S. Moffett
AU  - Peter J. Thomas
AU  - Michael Hinczewski
AU  - Andrew W. Eckford
TI  - Destructive and constructive cheater suppression through quorum sensing
AID  - 10.1101/2021.06.16.448736
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.06.16.448736
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/08/18/2021.06.16.448736.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/08/18/2021.06.16.448736.full
AB  - The evolutionary consequences of quorum sensing in regulating bacterial cooperation are not fully understood. In this study, we reveal unexpected consequences of regulating public good production through quorum sensing on bacterial population dynamics, showing that quorum sensing can be a collectively harmful alternative to unregulated production. We analyze a birth-death model of bacterial population dynamics accounting for public good production and the presence of non-producing cheaters. Our model demonstrates that when demographic noise is a factor, the consequences of controlling public good production according to quorum sensing depend on the cost of public good production and the presence of non-public fitness benefits. When public good production is inexpensive, quorum sensing is a destructive alternative to unconditional production, in terms of the mean population extinction time. When costs are higher, quorum sensing becomes a constructive strategy for the producing strain, both stabilizing cooperation and decreasing the risk of population extinction.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.