For example, strains of E. coli, the German biologists were able to trace the evolution of the mutually beneficial relationship between organisms.
Increasingly, scientists are questioning the notion that in the course of evolution, survival of the fittest. Recently American neuroscientists, for example, dogs and monkeys bonobos showed that the key to the survival of the species is, in fact, cooperation and friendliness. Now, researchers from the University of osnabrück in the course of the evolutionary experiment, figured out how cooperation emerges and evolves in bacteria Escherichia coli.
For the experiment were artificially bred two strains auxotrophic bacteria are able to multiply receive from each other certain amino acids. Watching the evolution of these microorganisms, scientists have found that after the change of many generations they were able to develop increased yields necessary “partners” of amino acids. For the bacterial production was quite costly, but it allowed them to successfully reproduce. The more they produce amino acids for “partners”, the more they get back, because they increased the population and, accordingly, increased their production. As a result, the gains from such cooperation remained both strains.
According to the study authors, this kind of feedback represents a hitherto unknown mechanism by which between two different organisms evolving mutually beneficial cooperation. And despite the fact that the experiment was carried out literally in a test tube, scientists believe that the results are able to explain the emergence of cooperation in a variety of ecological niches.
