Preprint Concept Paper Version 2 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Metabolic Heat in Microbial Conflict and Cooperation

Version 1 : Received: 11 May 2020 / Approved: 12 May 2020 / Online: 12 May 2020 (12:38:25 CEST)
Version 2 : Received: 15 July 2020 / Approved: 17 July 2020 / Online: 17 July 2020 (09:35:22 CEST)

How to cite: Frank, S. A. Metabolic Heat in Microbial Conflict and Cooperation. Preprints 2020, 2020050211. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202005.0211.v2 Frank, S. A. Metabolic Heat in Microbial Conflict and Cooperation. Preprints 2020, 2020050211. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202005.0211.v2

Abstract

Many microbes live in habitats below their optimum temperature. Retention of metabolic heat by aggregation or insulation would boost growth. Generation of excess metabolic heat may also provide benefit. A cell that makes excess metabolic heat pays the cost of production, whereas the benefit may be shared by neighbors within a zone of local heat capture. Metabolic heat as a shareable public good raises interesting questions about conflict and cooperation of heat production and capture. Metabolic heat may also be deployed as a weapon. Species with greater thermotolerance gain by raising local temperature to outcompete less thermotolerant taxa. Metabolic heat may provide defense against bacteriophage attack, by analogy with fever in vertebrates. This article outlines the theory of metabolic heat in microbial conflict and cooperation, presenting several predictions for future study.

Keywords

Thermoregulation; microbial metabolism; overflow metabolism; biofilms; public goods; social evolution; ecological competition; fever; bacteriophage defense

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Endocrinology and Metabolism

Comments (1)

Comment 1
Received: 17 July 2020
Commenter: Steven Frank
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author
Comment: Add new references about heat dissipation at single-cell scale. Added new references to prior theories related to main concepts of this manuscript.
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