Open questions in microbial cooperation
While putting my Myxo work together into a talk, and trying to present it all with some semblance of coherence, I had the opportunity to think about where the evolution of microbial cooperation is as a...
View ArticleA generalization of Hamilton’s rule for the evolution of microbial cooperation
jeff smith, J. David Van Dyken, & Peter C. Zee (2010) “A generalization of Hamilton’s rule for the evolution of microbial cooperation” Science 328: 1700-1703. [Link] Abstract: Hamilton’s rule...
View ArticleMore heat than light
Last summer, Nowak and colleagues published a perspective in Nature arguing against both the factual correctness and the scientific usefulness of kin selection theory. It rubbed a lot of people the...
View ArticleWays to study microbial evolution
Some choice nuggets I came across recently in a short perspective by Nadell and colleagues at Princeton: A recent paper in BMC Biology tests central elements of [social evolution] theory by...
View ArticlePractical implications of microbial evolution
When I originally got interested in microbes, it was mostly for somewhat obscure academic questions about mobile genetic elements: how does evolution solve conflicts to create cohesive individuals...
View ArticleSlime molds get their 15 minutes
Photo: Steven L. Stephenson Dictyostelium and its relatives are getting some time in the limelight from Carl Zimmer in the New York Times. The article even includes some coverage of our lab’s work on...
View ArticleTragedy of the commons among antibiotic resistance plasmids
smith (2012) Tragedy of the commons among antibiotic resistance plasmids. Evolution. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01531.x | Early view at Evolution Abstract: As social interactions are increasingly...
View ArticleWhat makes something “systems biology”?
Like many biologists, I’ve wondered at times what the relatively new discipline of systems biology is all about. A lot of things get called systems biology, from genomics to metabolism to gene...
View ArticleNonadaptive process can create the appearance of facultative cheating in...
smith j, Van Dyken JD, Velicer GJ (2013) Nonadaptive process can create the appearance of facultative cheating in microbes. Evolution 68: 816-826. DOI: 10.1111/evo.12306 Abstract: Adaptations to social...
View ArticleFruiting bodies of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum increase spore...
smith j, Queller DC, Strassmann JE (2014) Fruiting bodies of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum increase spore transport by Drosophila. BMC Evolutionary Biology 14: 105....
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