ArticleNature communications2022
The genetic architecture underlying prey-dependent performance in a microbial predator.
Article in Nature communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Predation in microbial communities: gradients of nutritive killing.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- Unlocking CRISPR-Cas9 editing for widely diverse Dictyostelid species.Molecular systems biology · 2026Article
- Exploring the microbial savanna: predator-prey interactions in the soil.Molecular systems biology · 2024Article
- Costs of being a diet generalist for the protist predatorProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Natural selection should favour generalist predators that outperform specialists across all prey types. Two genetic solutions could explain why intraspecific variation in predatory performance is, nonetheless, widespread: mutations beneficial on one prey type are costly on another (antagonistic pleiotropy), or mutational effects are prey-specific, which weakens selection, allowing variation to persist (relaxed selection). To understand the relative importance of these alternatives, we characterised natural variation in predatory performance in the microbial predator Dictyostelium discoideum. We found widespread nontransitive differences among strains in predatory success across different bacterial prey, which can facilitate stain coexistence in multi-prey environments. To understand the genetic basis, we developed methods for high throughput experimental evolution on different prey (REMI-seq). Most mutations (~77%) had prey-specific effects, with very few (~4%) showing antagonistic pleiotropy. This highlights the potential for prey-specific effects to dilute selection, which would inhibit the purging of variation and prevent the emergence of an optimal generalist predator.
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Registered trials
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