Local adaptation in natural Pseudomonas communities.

We isolated 315 pseudomonads from eight soil and eight pond communities, collected across a geographical scale of 0.5 to 50 meters. We studied whether cooperation via siderophore pyoverdine and cheating on it can spur patterns of local adaptation in natural Pseudomonas communities. We found a possible signature of local adaptation in pond communities but not soil. Overall, our results indicate that common ancestry and not geographical distance is the main predictor of siderophore-mediated social interactions among pseudomonads.