Is “Wolf‐Pack” Predation by Antimicrobial Bacteria Cooperative? Cell Behaviour and Predatory Mechanisms Indicate Profound Selfishness, Even when Working Alongside Kin

For decades, myxobacteria have been spotlighted as exemplars of social ‘wolf-pack’ predation, communally secreting antimicrobial substances into the shared public milieu. This behaviour has been described as cooperative, becoming more efficient if performed by more cells. However, laboratory evidence for cooperativity is limited and of little relevance to predation in a natural setting. In contrast, there is accumulating evidence for predatory mechanisms promoting ‘selfish’ behaviour during predation, which together with conflicting definitions of cooperativity, casts doubt on whether microbial ‘wolf-pack’ predation really is cooperative.
We hypothesise that public-goods mediated predation is not cooperative and argue that a holistic model of microbial predation is needed, accounting for predator and prey relatedness, social phenotypes, spatial organisation, activity/specificity/transport of secreted toxins, and prey resistance mechanisms. Filling such gaps in our knowledge is vital if we want to properly understand the evolutionary benefits of potentially costly microbial behaviours mediated by public goods.