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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Microbiol. 2013 May 14;21(6):265–270. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2013.04.001

Figure 1. Altruistic PCD and its intervention strategies.

Figure 1

(A) Induction of PCD by environmental stress may be coupled with release of public goods that provide direct or indirect benefits to the survivors.

(B) PCD can be artificially induced as an antibacterial treatment strategy, but this increases the amount of public goods released into the environment (indicated by the larger arrow sizes), which can result in overall better bacterial growth.

(C) PCD may be inhibited to decrease the generation of public goods (indicated by the smaller arrow sizes).

(D) A combination approach that both induces PCD and inhibits the function or activities of released public goods.