Data from: Competition sensing changes antibiotic production in Streptomyces

One of the most important ways that bacteria compete for resources and
space is by producing antibiotics that inhibit competitors. Because
antibiotic production is costly, the biosynthetic gene clusters
coordinating their synthesis are under strict regulatory control and often
require “elicitors” to induce expression, including cues from competing
strains. Although these cues are common, they are not produced by all
competitors, and so the phenotypes causing induction remain unknown. By
studying interactions between 24 antibiotic-producing strains of
streptomycetes, we show that strains commonly inhibit each other’s growth
and that this occurs more frequently if strains are closely related. Next,
we show that antibiotic production is more likely to be induced by cues
from strains that are closely related or that share secondary metabolite
biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). Unexpectedly, antibiotic production is
less likely to be induced by competitors that inhibit the growth of a
focal strain, indicating that cell damage is not a general cue for
induction. In addition to induction, antibiotic production often decreases
in the presence of a competitor, although this response was not associated
with genetic relatedness or overlap in BGCs. Finally, we show that
resource limitation increases the chance that antibiotic production
declines during competition.  Our results reveal the importance
of social cues and resource availability in the dynamics of interference
competition in streptomycetes.