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Comment
. 2015 Aug 25;112(34):10577-8.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1513797112.

Cheat invasion causes bacterial trait loss in lung infections

Rolf Kümmerli  1
Affiliations
Comment

Cheat invasion causes bacterial trait loss in lung infections

Rolf Kümmerli. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
(A) Microcolony of P. aeruginosa producing the autofluorescent pyoverdine (visible in the periplasma) to scavenge iron from the environment. Image courtesy of Konstanze Schiessl. This trait is lost during chronic infections in lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain this loss. Pyoverdine is selected against because (B) iron becomes more readily available in the lung and pyoverdine is no longer needed for uptake or (C) pyoverdine is still useful but is exploited by cheating mutants that no longer produce but capitalize on the publically available pyoverdine secreted by others. Color code: red, iron; gray, host tissue; orange, pyoverdine; green, pyoverdine producer; and blue, pyoverdine nonproducer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

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