Stochastic sexual interaction facilitates the evolution of asexual cooperation in the social amoeba

Abstract

The evolution of cooperation is one of the most important problems in biology. The evolutionary game theory is a useful approach for investing this problem, and some researchers have recently improved it by adding another game to the dynamics. This framework is known as “multi-games”. In this paper, we investigate the effect of the stochastic sexual interaction on the evolution of asexual cooperation. Our scenario is based on the life cycle of Dictyostelium discoideum, which has two cooperative phases: asexual fruiting body formation and sexual macrocyst formation. We assume that fruiting body formation is represented by the Prisoner’s Dilemma game, while macrocyst formation provides the constant benefits; we focus on the evolution of cooperation in fruiting body formation. Our model shows that cooperators can eliminate different mating type defectors. This occurs only if the benefit from the stochastic sexual interaction is less than from asexual cooperation. This result suggests that macrocyst formation...