# rmx-s-behav: cooperative vs. opportunistic bacteria

<< bacteria, which do not actively contribute to metabolite production, can be excluded from the cooperative benefits. The research team demonstrated that cooperative cross-feeding interactions that grow on two-dimensional surfaces are protected from being exploited by opportunistic, non-cooperating bacteria. Under these conditions, non-cooperating bacteria are spatially excluded from the exchanged amino acids. This protective effect probably stabilizes cooperative cross-feeding interactions in the long-run. >>

http://www.ice.mpg.de/ext/1243.html

Samay Pande, Filip Kaftan, et al. Privatization of cooperative benefits stabilizes mutualistic cross-feeding interactions in spatially structured environments. The ISME Journal, 2015; DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2015.212

http://www.nature.com/ismej/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ismej2015212a.html