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PNAS

Rapid and widespread de novo evolution of kin discrimination

Overview of attention for article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, July 2015
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  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (95th percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (77th percentile)

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Title
Rapid and widespread de novo evolution of kin discrimination
Published in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, July 2015
DOI 10.1073/pnas.1502251112
Pubmed ID
Authors

Olaya Rendueles, Peter C. Zee, Iris Dinkelacker, Michaela Amherd, Sébastien Wielgoss, Gregory J. Velicer

Abstract

Diverse forms of kin discrimination, broadly defined as alteration of social behavior as a function of genetic relatedness among interactants, are common among social organisms from microbes to humans. However, the evolutionary origins and causes of kin-discriminatory behavior remain largely obscure. One form of kin discrimination observed in microbes is the failure of genetically distinct colonies to merge freely upon encounter. Here, we first use natural isolates of the highly social bacterium Myxococcus xanthus to show that colony-merger incompatibilities can be strong barriers to social interaction, particularly by reducing chimerism in multicellular fruiting bodies that develop near colony-territory borders. We then use experimental laboratory populations to test hypotheses regarding the evolutionary origins of kin discrimination. We show that the generic process of adaptation, irrespective of selective environment, is sufficient to repeatedly generate kin-discriminatory behaviors between evolved populations and their common ancestor. Further, we find that kin discrimination pervasively evolves indirectly between allopatric replicate populations that adapt to the same ecological habitat and that this occurs generically in many distinct habitats. Patterns of interpopulation discrimination imply that kin discrimination phenotypes evolved via many diverse genetic mechanisms and mutation-accumulation patterns support this inference. Strong incompatibility phenotypes emerged abruptly in some populations but strengthened gradually in others. The indirect evolution of kin discrimination in an asexual microbe is analogous to the indirect evolution of reproductive incompatibility in sexual eukaryotes and linguistic incompatibility among human cultures, the commonality being indirect, noncoordinated divergence of complex systems evolving in isolation.

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X Demographics

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 128 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 3 2%
Belgium 2 2%
Spain 2 2%
Switzerland 1 <1%
Estonia 1 <1%
France 1 <1%
Japan 1 <1%
Portugal 1 <1%
Unknown 116 91%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 31 24%
Researcher 22 17%
Student > Master 19 15%
Student > Bachelor 14 11%
Professor > Associate Professor 9 7%
Other 21 16%
Unknown 12 9%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 64 50%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 16 13%
Environmental Science 11 9%
Immunology and Microbiology 5 4%
Social Sciences 4 3%
Other 11 9%
Unknown 17 13%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 43. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 06 July 2023.
All research outputs
#993,962
of 26,020,829 outputs
Outputs from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
#15,240
of 104,143 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#11,418
of 277,439 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
#206
of 915 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 26,020,829 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 104,143 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 39.8. This one has done well, scoring higher than 85% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 277,439 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 915 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 77% of its contemporaries.