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LTT: Saira Khan
October 20, 2023 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT
Title: Coarse-grained Theories of Cooperation and Myxobacteria
Abstract:
A particular strain of myxobacteria known as Myxococcus xanthus has received attention for its cooperative predation. I examine whether the same explanations proposed to account for cooperation in other areas of the M. xanthus life-cycle – in quorum-sensing, social motility and fruiting body formation – can also account for their cooperative predation. I argue that cooperation in M. xanthus predation cannot be sustained by the same mechanisms. Part of the reason lies in a possible mischaracterisation of the cooperative problem as a linear public goods game or game in which strategies are independent of genes implicated in other M. xanthus activities. Another part lies in the insensitivity of these explanatory models to ecological and genomic context. These insights provide important lessons for our use of simplified models to explain real-world behaviours in a variety of organisms.
This talk will also be available live streamed on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
Details
- Date:
- October 20, 2023
- Time:
-
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT
- Event Categories:
- Lunchtime Talks, Lunchtime Talks 2023-24
Venue
- 1119 Cathedral of Learning
Organizer
- Center for Philosophy of Science
- Phone:
- 4126241050
- Email:
- pittcntr@pitt.edu
- View Organizer Website