Environment Constrains Fitness Advantages of Division of Labor in Microbial Consortia Engineered for Metabolite Push or Pull Interactions.

Fitness benefits from division of labor are well documented in microbial consortia, but the dependency of the benefits on environmental context is poorly understood. Two synthetic Escherichia coli consortia were built to test the relationships between exchanged organic acid, local environment, and opportunity costs of different metabolic strategies. Opportunity costs quantify benefits not realized due to selecting one phenotype over another.