Similar behavioural responses have been described in vertebrates under the banner of ‘generalised reciprocity'. We demonstrate mathematically and experimentally that the observed response rule of ‘co-operate when surrounded by co-operators’ allows bacteria to match their investment in co-operation to the composition of the group, therefore allowing the maintenance of co-operation at lower levels of population structuring (that is, lower relatedness). Using high-density populations of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa we map per-capita signal and co-operative enzyme investment in the wild type as a function of the frequency of non-responder cheats. We show that the canonical QS regulatory architecture allows bacteria to sense the genotypic composition of high-density populations, and limit co-operative investments to social environments enriched for co-operators. Quorum sensing (QS) is a cell–cell communication system found in many bacterial species, commonly controlling secreted co-operative traits, including extracellular digestive enzymes.
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