Public goods and cheating in microbes.

Communication and cooperation are not restricted to complex, higher organisms. Microbes, too, perform a variety of collective, multicellular behaviors, including biofilm formation, quorum sensing, nutrient acquisition, and dispersal. The products of these microbial cooperative behaviors are generally referred to as public goods. Here we describe the nature of microbial public goods, the associated problem of cheating, and ways in which microbes maintain public goods in the face of cheating. We highlight work in a growing field at the interface of microbiology, evolution, and ecology that combines multiple approaches in experimental evolution, genetics, and mathematical modeling.