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SUMMARY:The behavioural ecology of bacteria in infection - Dr. Ashleigh S.
  Griffin\, Department of Zoology\, University of Oxford\, UK
DTSTART:20160505T150000Z
DTEND:20160505T160000Z
UID:TALK63874@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:42128
DESCRIPTION:Behavioural ecologists use evolutionary theory to provide adap
 tive explanations for observations of animals living in their natural envi
 ronment. Success relies on accurately identifying selection pressures acti
 ng upon traits of interest. For this reason\, we have made limited progres
 s in understanding the adaptive significance of behavioural traits in micr
 obes. To observe a bacterial cell\, we typically isolate it from its natur
 al environment first before bringing it into the lab for examination. This
  process releases cells from the very selection pressures we wish to under
 stand. Furthermore\, the bacteria we are most interested in – human path
 ogens – live in one of the most inaccessible and irreplicable environmen
 ts – living human beings. In this talk\, I will present evidence that se
 lection to optimise fitness from social interactions can drive long-term p
 henotypic dynamics in Pseudomonas aeruginosa infecting patients with cysti
 c fibrosis. After ten years of studying P. aeruginosa in precisely control
 led experimental evolution studies\, we were interested to know if the com
 petitive dynamics of co-operators and cheats in our experiments had any re
 levance to the real world. But first we had to overcome the challenge of i
 dentifying selection pressures inside a human lung.\n\n
LOCATION:Main Lecture Theatre\, Department of Zoology\, New Museum Site
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