Pervasive Selection for Cooperative Cross-Feeding in Bacterial Communities
Fig 5
Population dynamics in environments without amino acid supplementation.
Repeated simulations (n = 100) are plotted for varying benefit-to-cost ratios (BCR) and degrees of amino acid diffusion (bold line: mean, shaded ribbon: standard deviation). All simulations start with a random distribution of all genotypes and undergo a specific dynamic alternation of genotype frequencies. Depending on the genotype’s strategy, it can repress, facilitate, or even outcompete others (see text for more details). Legend: red = wild type, blue = overproducing genotype, yellow = auxotroph (2 types), green = cross-feeder (2 types).