Resource sharing is sufficient for the emergence of division of labour

Kreider, Jan J.; Janzen, Thijs; Bernadou, Abel; Elsner, D.; Kramer, Boris H.; Weissing, Franz J.

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-35038-2

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…The strain that is not burdened by the plasmid is able to grow at a faster rate and helps to maintain the biomass of the population. This distribution is consistent with a more general definition of DOL, that DOL is simply the specialization of certain tasks by individuals within a group to improve overall function. − These tasks are not limited to carrying out steps of a metabolic pathway of interest. Instead, these tasks can include any function carried out by a population, such as anabolizing a useful public good, degrading environmental sources of nutrients for public consumption, or maintaining the overall biomass of the population through optimized growth In the case of nitrogen fixation and nodulation, we propose that the DOL within the population is between cells that fix nitrogen or produce nodulation factors and cells that grow quickly.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 83%

Programming Dynamic Division of Labor Using Horizontal Gene Transfer

Hamrick,

Maddamsetti,

Son

et al. 2024

ACS Synth. Biol.

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The metabolic engineering of microbes has broad applications, including biomanufacturing, bioprocessing, and environmental remediation. The introduction of a complex, multistep pathway often imposes a substantial metabolic burden on the host cell, restraining the accumulation of productive biomass and limiting pathway efficiency. One strategy to alleviate metabolic burden is the division of labor (DOL) in which different subpopulations carry out different parts of the pathway and work together to convert a substrate into a final product. However, the maintenance of different engineered subpopulations is challenging due to competition and convoluted interstrain population dynamics. Through modeling, we show that dynamic division of labor (DDOL), which we define as the DOL between indiscrete populations capable of dynamic and reversible interchange, can overcome these limitations and enable the robust maintenance of burdensome, multistep pathways. We propose that DDOL can be mediated by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) and use plasmid genomics to uncover evidence that DDOL is a strategy utilized by natural microbial communities. Our work suggests that bioengineers can harness HGT to stabilize synthetic metabolic pathways in microbial communities, enabling the development of robust engineered systems for deployment in a variety of contexts.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 83%

Programming Dynamic Division of Labor Using Horizontal Gene Transfer

Hamrick,

Maddamsetti,

Son

et al. 2024

ACS Synth. Biol.

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“…More generally, this study questions the assumption that larger group size has promoted the evolution of biological complexity [2,[7][8][9]22]. While a positive correlation between cell/ caste type number and body/colony size has been widely recognized, several models of division of labour predict little or no direct relationship between these traits [16][17][18][19]. In the other major insect clade with eusocial species, Hymenoptera, analyses accounting for phylogenetic autocorrelation and other traits found no direct relationship between sterile caste polymorphism and colony size in stingless bees [15] and ants in general [14], although it does seem to occur in at least some ant clades [78,79].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Despite the evidence for a size-complexity rule, this relationship can depend on other factors [12,13] or simply not occur [14,15], and several models predict little or no direct relationship between division of labour and group size [16][17][18][19]. This suggests that, even when present, the sizecomplexity rule may be a false correlation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Resource adaptation drives the size–complexity rule in termites

Pequeno

2024

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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The size–complexity rule posits that the evolution of larger cooperative groups should favour more division of labour. Examples include more cell types in larger multicellular organisms, and more polymorphic castes in larger eusocial colonies. However, a correlation between division of labour and group size may reflect a shared response of both traits to resource availability and/or profitability. Here, this possibility was addressed by investigating the evolution of sterile caste number (worker and soldier morphotypes) in termites, a major clade of eusocial insects in which the drivers of caste polymorphism are poorly understood. A novel dataset on 90 termite species was compiled from the published literature. The analysis showed that sterile caste number did increase markedly with colony size. However, after controlling for resource adaptations and phylogeny, there was no evidence for this relationship. Rather, sterile caste number increased with increasing nest–food separation and decreased with soil-feeding, through changes in worker (but not soldier) morphotype number. Further, colony size increased with nest–food separation, thus driving the false correlation between sterile caste number and colony size. These findings support adaptation to higher energy acquisition as key to the rise of complex insect societies, with larger size being a by-product.

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“…This mechanism causes some larvae to develop into large workers and some larvae into small workers, even in the absence of any systematic differences between individual larvae, although random differences in egg size can facilitate the differentiation of nutrition levels between larvae. A role of self-reinforcement for the emergence of castes has also been demonstrated in a non-evolutionary division of labour model, where individuals with high nutrition levels are dominant over individuals with lower nutrition levels and thus obtain more resources, leading to the emergence of distinct groups of malnourished foragers and well-nourished nurses [58].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coevolution of larval signalling and worker response can trigger developmental caste determination in social insects

Lagos-Oviedo,

Pen,

Kreider

2023

Preprint

Self Cite

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Eusocial insects belong to distinct queen and worker castes, which, in turn, can be divided into several morphologically specialised castes of workers. Caste determination typically occurs by differential nutrition of developing larvae. We present a model for the coevolution of larval signalling and worker task allocation – both modelled by flexible smooth reaction norms – to investigate the evolution of caste determination mechanisms and worker polymorphism. In our model, larvae evolve to signal their nutritional state to workers. The workers evolve to allocate time to foraging for resources versus feeding the brood, conditional on the larval signals and their body size. Worker polymorphism evolves under accelerating foraging returns of increasing body size, which causes selection to favour large foraging and small nursing workers. Worker castes emerge because larvae evolve to amplify their signals after obtaining some food, which causes them to receive more food, while the other larvae remain unfed. This leads to symmetry-breaking among the larvae who either are well-nourished or malnourished; thus, emerging as small or large workers. Our model demonstrates the evolution of nutrition-dependent caste determination and worker polymorphism by a self-reinforcement mechanism that evolves from the interplay of larval signalling and worker response to the signals.

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Resource sharing is sufficient for the emergence of division of labour

Cited by 10 publications

References 60 publications

Programming Dynamic Division of Labor Using Horizontal Gene Transfer

Programming Dynamic Division of Labor Using Horizontal Gene Transfer

Resource adaptation drives the size–complexity rule in termites

Coevolution of larval signalling and worker response can trigger developmental caste determination in social insects

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