Resource allocation in tragedy of the commons game in plants for belowground competition

Kim, Bo-Moon; Horita, Junnosuke; Suzuki, Jun‐Ichirou; Tachiki, Yuuya

doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2021.110858

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…They adjust the proliferation, structure, and physiology of their root systems in response to resource availability and the presence of competitors’ roots 67 – 69 . The root systems of neighboring plants influence the nutrient uptake, and thus fitness, of a focal plant 17 , 70 . A study performed by ref.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

GLUT1 production in cancer cells: a tragedy of the commons

2022

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The tragedy of the commons occurs when competition among individual members of a group leads to overexploitation of a shared resource to the detriment of the overall population. We hypothesize that cancer cells may engage in a tragedy of the commons when competing for a shared resource such as glucose. To formalize this notion, we create a game theoretic model of glucose uptake based on a cell’s investment in transporters relative to that of its neighboring cells. We show that production of transporters per cell increases as the number of competing cells in a microenvironment increases and nutrient uptake per cell decreases. Furthermore, the greater the resource availability, the more intense the tragedy of the commons at the ESS. Based on our simulations, cancer cells produce 2.2–2.7 times more glucose transporters than would produce optimal fitness for all group members. A tragedy of the commons affords novel therapeutic strategies. By simulating GLUT1 inhibitor and glucose deprivation treatments, we demonstrate a synergistic combination with standard-of-care therapies, while also displaying the existence of a trade-off between competition among cancer cells and depression of their gain function. Assuming cancer cell transporter production is heritable, we then show the potential for a sucker’s gambit therapy by exploiting this trade-off. By strategically changing environmental conditions, we can take advantage of cellular competition and gain function depression.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

GLUT1 production in cancer cells: a tragedy of the commons

2022

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“…Game theory models that assess the response of the purely exploitative plants to the presence of neighbors predict that such plants must engage in an RToC ( Zhang et al, 1999 ; Gersani et al, 2001 ; Cabal et al, 2020 ). Gersani et al (2001) hypothesized that competing exploitative plants could either downregulate root growth to keep collective root density constant as plant population density increases (an “ideal free distribution,” IFD) or follow game theory model predictions and overproliferate roots with respect to the collective optimum (RToC)—not necessarily to the plant alone ( Kim et al, 2021 ). They used the IFD as a null hypothesis to test against the RToC in their experiments with soybeans, finding empirical support for the RToC ( Figure 1B ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Root tragedy of the commons: Revisiting the mechanisms of a misunderstood theory

Cabal

2022

Front. Plant Sci.

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Fine root density in the soil is a plant functional trait of paramount importance for plant ecology and agriculture. Fine root proliferation by plants involves complex plant strategies that may depend on various abiotic and biotic factors. Concretely, the root tragedy of the commons (RToC) is a behavioral strategy predicted by game theory models in which interacting plants forage for soil resources inefficiently. Generally, researchers assume that the RToC is a proactive competition strategy directly induced by the non-self roots. In this opinion, I recall Hardin’s original definition of the tragedy of the commons to challenge this notion. I argue that the RToC is a suboptimal phenotypically plastic response of the plants based on the soil resource information exclusively, and I discuss how this alternative perspective carries important implications for the design of experiments investigating the physiological mechanisms underlying observable plant root responses.

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Plant neighbors differentially alter a focal species' biotic interactions through changes to resource allocation

Turner,

Schweitzer

2024

Ecology

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Plant resource allocation strategies are thought to be largely a consequence of changing abiotic conditions and evolutionary history. However, biotic interactions also influence how a plant allocates resources. As a result, plants mediate indirect interactions between organisms above‐ and belowground through resource allocation. Neighboring plants can influence plant fitness directly through competition for resources, and indirectly by altering associated community interactions (associational effects), such as pollination, herbivory, and a suite of belowground interactions. Given the importance of community interactions for plant success, and the known ability for plant neighbors to change these interactions, the goal of this “pandemic project” was to understand how heterospecific plant neighbors alter plant resource allocation, whether this occurred through above‐ or belowground mechanisms, and whether this in turn alters biotic interactions and the relationship between a focal plant and its herbivore and soil community interactions. To do so, we established a common garden experiment, manipulating plant neighbor identity and the extent of interaction among neighbors (aboveground only, vs. above‐ and belowground interactions, using customized pot types), and measured changes to a focal plant and its biotic interactions over two growing seasons. We found evidence of both neighbor effects and pot type, showing that neighbor interactions affect a focal plant through both above‐ and belowground processes, and how the focal plant is affected depends on neighbor identity. Though neighbors did not directly alter herbivory or most soil microbial interactions, they did alter the relationship between belowground microbial communities and a plant response trait (specific leaf area). Plant resource allocation responses were reduced with time, showing the importance of extending experiments beyond a single growing season, and are an important consideration when making predictions about plant responses to changing conditions. This study contributes to a growing body of work showing how community contexts affect the above‐ and belowground interactions of a plant through plant resource allocation strategies.

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Resource allocation in tragedy of the commons game in plants for belowground competition

Cited by 8 publications

References 34 publications

GLUT1 production in cancer cells: a tragedy of the commons

GLUT1 production in cancer cells: a tragedy of the commons

Root tragedy of the commons: Revisiting the mechanisms of a misunderstood theory

Plant neighbors differentially alter a focal species' biotic interactions through changes to resource allocation

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