Ostrowski EAShen YTian XSucgang RJiang HQu JKatoh-Kurasawa MBrock DADinh CLara-Garduno FLee SLKovar CLDinh HHKorchina VJackson LRPatil SHan YChaboub LShaulsky GMuzny DMWorley KCGibbs RARichards SKuspa AStrassmann JEQueller DC2015-06-152015-04-221/01/2015CURRENT BIOLOGY, 2015, 25 (12), pp. 1661 - 16650960-9822https://hdl.handle.net/10179/13278© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Summary Cooperative systems are susceptible to invasion by selfish individuals that profit from receiving the social benefits but fail to contribute. These so-called "cheaters" can have a fitness advantage in the laboratory, but it is unclear whether cheating provides an important selective advantage in nature. We used a population genomic approach to examine the history of genes involved in cheating behaviors in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, testing whether these genes experience rapid evolutionary change as a result of conflict over spore-stalk fate. Candidate genes and surrounding regions showed elevated polymorphism, unusual patterns of linkage disequilibrium, and lower levels of population differentiation, but they did not show greater between-species divergence. The signatures were most consistent with frequency-dependent selection acting to maintain multiple alleles, suggesting that conflict may lead to stalemate rather than an escalating arms race. Our results reveal the evolutionary dynamics of cooperation and cheating and underscore how sequence-based approaches can be used to elucidate the history of conflicts that are difficult to observe directly.1661 - 1665Journal article10.1016/j.cub.2015.04.0594018101879-0445Massey_Dark06 Biological Sciences11 Medical and Health Sciences17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences