Khan, Saira (2024) The limits of our explanation: a case study in Myxococcus xanthus cooperation. [Preprint]
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Abstract
In this article, I demonstrate two ways in which our major theories of the evolution of cooperation may fail to capture particular social phenomena. The first shortcoming of our current major theories stems from the possibility of mischaracterising the cooperative problem in game theory. The second shortcoming of our current major theories is the insensitivity of these explanatory models to ecological and genomic context. As a case study to illustrate these points, I will use the cooperative interaction of a species of myxobacteria called Myxococcus xanthus. M. xanthus cooperate in many areas of their life-cycle – in quorum-sensing, social motility, fruiting body formation, and predation. I focus in particular on predation as we have not yet discovered an adequate explanation of how they sustain cooperative predation in the face of developmental cheats. In explaining why we have not, I draw generalisable conclusions which shed light on our use of simplified models to explain real-world behaviours in a variety of organisms.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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| Keywords: | Cooperation; Microbiology; Myxobacteria; Myxococcus xanthus; Predation; Public Goods game | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory |
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| Depositing User: | Dr. Saira Khan | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 24 Nov 2024 15:07 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 24 Nov 2024 15:07 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 24252 | ||||||
| Official URL: | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13752-0... | ||||||
| DOI or Unique Handle: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-024-00479-z | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory |
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| Date: | 12 November 2024 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24252 |
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