Tiny acts of microbe justice help reveal how nature fights freeloaders
Monday, January 6, 2014 - 14:30
in Biology & Nature
Researchers have discovered that bacteria prevent layabouts from enjoying the fruit of others' hard work by keeping food generated by the community's productive members away from those microbes that attempt to live on others' leftovers. The process could have uses in agriculture, energy and medicine, as well as provide insight into how species protect themselves from the freeloaders of their kind.