| Title |
Social amoeba farmers carry defensive symbionts to protect and privatize their crops
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Nature Communications, September 2013
|
| DOI | 10.1038/ncomms3385 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Debra A. Brock, Silven Read, Alona Bozhchenko, David C. Queller, Joan E. Strassmann |
| Abstract |
Agricultural crops are investments that can be exploited by others. Farmer clones of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum carry bacteria to seed out new food populations but they also carry other non-food bacteria such as Burkholderia spp. Here we demonstrate that these farmer-carried Burkholderia inhibit the growth of non-farmer D. discoideum clones that could exploit the farmers' crops. Using supernatants, we show that inhibition is due to molecules secreted by Burkholderia. When farmer and non-farmer amoebae are mixed together at various frequencies and allowed to complete the social stage, the ability of non-farmers to produce spores falls off rapidly with an increase in the percentage of farmers and their defensive symbionts. Conversely, farmer spore production is unaffected by the frequency of non-farmers. Our results suggest that successful farming is a complex evolutionary adaptation because it requires additional strategies, such as recruiting third parties, to effectively defend and privatize crops. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 4 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 1 | 25% |
| Unknown | 3 | 75% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 2 | 50% |
| Scientists | 2 | 50% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 116 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 3 | 3% |
| Portugal | 1 | <1% |
| France | 1 | <1% |
| Indonesia | 1 | <1% |
| Peru | 1 | <1% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 108 | 93% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 26 | 22% |
| Researcher | 15 | 13% |
| Student > Master | 15 | 13% |
| Student > Bachelor | 13 | 11% |
| Professor > Associate Professor | 7 | 6% |
| Other | 22 | 19% |
| Unknown | 18 | 16% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 51 | 44% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 15 | 13% |
| Immunology and Microbiology | 10 | 9% |
| Environmental Science | 4 | 3% |
| Chemistry | 3 | 3% |
| Other | 12 | 10% |
| Unknown | 21 | 18% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 26. 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 08 January 2024.
All research outputs
#1,443,443
of 25,123,616 outputs
Outputs from Nature Communications
#21,011
of 55,424 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#12,474
of 204,368 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature Communications
#133
of 379 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,123,616 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 94th percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 55,424 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 55.9. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 62% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 379 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 65% of its contemporaries.