Several bacterial pathogens including Pseudomonas aeruginosa use cell-to-cell signalling to regulate virulence factor expression. The cost of communication is believed to allow for cheaters and this paper provides experimental evidence that this is the case, signal and signal-receptor mutants display a fitness advantage. But this advantage decreases with an increase in relatedness of the competing strains, a phenomenon known as kin selection.
- Stephen P. Diggle
- Ashleigh S. Griffin
- Stuart A. West
