Fig. 7: Lon protease can provide a private benefit that does not outweigh cost.
From: Bacteria encode post-mortem protein catabolism that enables altruistic nutrient recycling
a Plot of the change in cell density for the indicated WT or Lon-null strains with or without plasmid encoding WT Lon protein grown at 42 °C in M9/1% (v/v) glycerol media for 20 hrs (n = 4; mean ± 95% C.I., p values—one-way ANOVA with post hoc Tukey’s multiple comparisons test, F (DFn = 2, DFd = 9) = 8.224). WT vs Lon-null p = 0.0378; WT vs Lon-null + Lon WT p = 0.6507; Lon-null vs Lon-null + Lon WT p = 0.0094. b Plot of the change in CFU mL- for the indicated E. coli BW25113 WT (WT) or Δlon (Δlon) strains with or without plasmid encoding WT Lon protein grown at 42 °C in M9/1% (v/v) glycerol media for 5 days (n = 4); mean ± 95% C.I., p value—two-tailed Mann–Whitney Test. c Plot of the relative fitness of Lon-null bacteria at 37 °C grown for 20 hrs, compared to WT cells, against the proportion of cells in the initial population (n = 3, R2 = 0.01027, Spearman r = 0.40 p = 0.2583). d Plot of the relative fitness of Lon-null bacteria at 42 °C grown for 20 hrs, compared to WT cells, against the proportion of cells in the initial population (n = 3, R2 = 0.09516, Spearman r = −0.20 p = 0.3917). e Plot of the percentage of the indicated WT or Lon-null strains before and after growth in a mixed culture at 42 °C in M9/1% (v/v) glycerol media for five days (n = 4; mean ± 95% C.I., p-values—one-way ANOVA with post hoc Tukey’s multiple comparisons test, F (DFn = 3, DFd = 12) = 143155). WT Day 0 vs Day 5, Lon-null Day 0 vs Day 5 p = 0.0177. f Plot of the relative fitness of Lon-null bacteria at 42 °C grown for 5 days, compared to WT cells, against the proportion of cells in the initial population (n = 3, R2 = 0.2765, Spearman r = −0.70 p = 0.1167). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
