Relative fitness of resistant (R) versus sensitive (S) mimic strains.
R and S were grown in coculture with selfish phenotype selection (adenosine
carbon source, gray) and group-beneficial phenotype selection (BSA
carbon source, black). (A) Schematic demonstrating a nonquorate rare
signal-dependent QSI-resistant mutant. (B) Relative fitness of signal-dependent
R vs S. (C) Schematic demonstrating a signal-independent QSI-resistant
mutant that can express its QS regulon, even when rare. (D) Relative
fitness of signal-independent R vs S. Relative fitness values >1
indicate
that the resistant mimic is more fit and will spread. Data are represented
as box and whisker plots. Each dot is an individual data point. Boxes
encompass the inner quartiles, and horizontal lines are median values.
Whiskers extend to the furthest data points. The statistical significance
of relative fitness deviations from 1 were tested via paired t tests comparing the logarithm of the final
R/S ratio to the logarithm of the initial R/S ratio for each sample
(****p < 0.0001, ***p < 0.001,
**p < 0.01, *p < 0.05, not
significant (ns) p > 0.05).