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      Reciprocal rewards stabilize cooperation in the mycorrhizal symbiosis.

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          Abstract

          Plants and their arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal symbionts interact in complex underground networks involving multiple partners. This increases the potential for exploitation and defection by individuals, raising the question of how partners maintain a fair, two-way transfer of resources. We manipulated cooperation in plants and fungal partners to show that plants can detect, discriminate, and reward the best fungal partners with more carbohydrates. In turn, their fungal partners enforce cooperation by increasing nutrient transfer only to those roots providing more carbohydrates. On the basis of these observations we conclude that, unlike many other mutualisms, the symbiont cannot be "enslaved." Rather, the mutualism is evolutionarily stable because control is bidirectional, and partners offering the best rate of exchange are rewarded.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          Science
          Science (New York, N.Y.)
          American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
          1095-9203
          0036-8075
          Aug 12 2011
          : 333
          : 6044
          Affiliations
          [1 ] Institute of Ecological Science, Vrije Universiteit, 1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands. toby.kiers@vu.nl
          Article
          333/6044/880
          10.1126/science.1208473
          21836016
          3168d6f7-1732-40d7-8010-ef6d58a76edc
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