Fig. 1: Testing how readily evolutionary rescue can occur in populations engaged in obligate mutualism.
From: Mutualism breakdown underpins evolutionary rescue in an obligate cross-feeding bacterial consortium
a We utilized a pair of E. coli strains engaged in obligate mutualism based on amino acid exchange and exposed them to three treatments (No stress, salinity, and PNP) to observe if the consortium could avoid extinction through evolutionary rescue. b Abrupt environmental stress is expected to cause a decline in population density towards extinction, followed by three possible scenarios: extinction of both partners, adaptation of one partner that recovers while the other goes extinct, or adaptation and recovery of both partners.
